The document discusses the history of programming languages and concepts from 1972. It introduces Prolog, a logic programming language created in 1972. It also discusses that while hardware capabilities have increased significantly since then, aspects of human psychology and what makes for a good programming language have remained relatively constant. The best programmers are still those that are introspective and able to learn from their mistakes.

1. A developer, though wise, should
never be ashamed of learning more,
and must unbend his mind.

2. A blast from the past

42. 1972

43. 1972 - Hardware

51. 1972 - People

53. Applies today
Most programmers feel that there is such a thing as
a good programming.
Without humility, a programmer is foredoomed to
the classic pattern of Greek drama: success leading
to overconfidence (hubris) leading to blind
self-destruction
The best programmers are the most introspective. If
they do something wrong, they examine the
process that led to the error, then they change it.
Faced with a malfunctioning program a programmer
might say: “Those keypunch operators did it again”

57. 1972 - Software

58. Which came first?
(defun quicksort (list)
(when list
(destructuring-bind (x . xs) list
(nconc (quicksort
(remove-if
(lambda (a) (> a x))
xs)
)
`(,x)
(quicksort
(remove-if
(lambda (a) (<= a x))
xs)
)
))))
void quicksort(int *A, int len) {
if (len < 2) return;
register int pivot = A[len / 2];
register int i, j;
for (i = 0, j = len - 1; ; i++, j--) {
while (A[i] < pivot) i++;
while (A[j] > pivot) j--;
if (i >= j) break;
int temp = A[i];
A[i] = A[j];
A[j] = temp;
}
quicksort(A, i);
quicksort(A + i, len - i);
}

59. Which came first?
(defun quicksort (list)
(when list
(destructuring-bind (x . xs) list
(nconc (quicksort
...
Lisp: 1958
Latest incarnation: December 2018 (Clojure)
TIOBE#31 (#29 is Scala)
void quicksort(int *A, int len) {
if (len < 2) return;
register int pivot = A[len / 2];
register int i, j;
...
C: 1972
Latest standard: June 2018
TIOBE#2 (#1 is Java)

60. fx f(x)
s(t)
s(t+1)
m
Spot the similarity

61. But what if
p yx

62. Prolog
- 1972/1973
- Alain Colmerauer/Marseille university
- Original Interpreter Written in Algol-W
- Originally written in PL360

64. Prolog
1. State what is true
2. Query!
woman(mia).
woman(jody).
woman(yolanda).
loves(vincent,mia).
loves(marsellus,mia).
jealous(X,Y):-
loves(X,Z),loves(Y,Z).
?- jealous(marsellus,vincent).
True
?- jealous(marsellus,Y)
Y = vincent .

65. Demo Time

66. We’ve solved a murder/defined
natural arithmetic

67. A man, though wise, should never
be ashamed of learning more, and
must unbend his mind.
Sophocles, Antigone (441 BC)

68. Things learned
A bit of Prolog
Hardware becomes more powerful
Human psychology stays the same
So does intelligence
Language landscape moves very slowly
No strong correlation between hardware and
software sophistication
Higher abstraction doesn’t automatically attract
success
Language features are successful, through influence
Abstraction is not a function of time