This document discusses different programming languages and perspectives. It notes that programming languages approach problems differently, with some focusing on static concepts like types, functions, and correctness, while others emphasize dynamic concepts like state, actions, and systems changing over time. The document concludes that different languages provide useful perspectives and that concepts from one language can be used to think about code in another, though direct translation between languages may not always work well. Understanding the problem shape is important before translating to a specific program.

1. fronx
code as a
thinking tool

2. a sequence
of things
that happened
a story

3. 1984
birth

4. 1991
BASIC

5. 1996
PASCAL

6. 1998
“OOP is better because
it’s new”

7. 2007
“dynamic is better because
it makes programs smaller”

8. 2010
expressiveness
correctness
multiple computers

9. 2013
funemployment
types 💕

10. 2014
“functional C++?”

11. ✨ realizations ✨

12. different programming
languages are about
different things
1.

13. you can use one language
for thinking and another
language for implementing
2.

14. translating concepts
directly can be a bad idea
3.

15. ok, let’s do this

16. different programming
languages are about
different things
1.

17. C memory
Ruby runtime manipulation
Clojure persistent data structures
C++ memory ownership

18. Haskell
the potential existence of
different kinds of things
and their relations to
each other

19. Haskell
data, functions,
and their types

20. Haskell
static view of systems

21. interlude 💃
⚡static dynamic

22. dynamic
stuff happening over time
machines doing things
communication
~
~

23. static
time-independent truths
things that are or aren’t possible
~

24. dynamic static
i is set to 0
if multiple of 3, print
increment
repeat until at 10
input : [Int]
console.log : Int → Output
(%) : Int → Int → Int
filter : (a → Bool) → [a] → [a]

25. static

26. pathways through space
(%) : Int → Int → Int
print : Int → Output
Int
%
Output
print

27. pathways through space
filter : (a → Bool) → [a] → [a]
mod3 : Int → Bool
[Int]
filter
Int → Bool
mod3

28. static
everything is a value
everything has a type

29. dynamic
state
new state
action

30. a path through space
(start)
i = 0;
i == 0
i == 0
console.log(i);
i == 1
i++;
i == 2
i++;

31. which model is better suited
for thinking about programs?

32. static
dynamic

33. 💃 end of interlude.

34. conclusion
different languages have
different perspectives
concepts of A can be used
to think about the code of B

36. you can use one language
for thinking and another
language for implementing
2.

37. why

38. where?
when?
what language?
annoying questions

39. annoying questions
where?
when?
what language?
save
for
later

40. step 1: understand the
shape of the problem

41. conceptual building blocks
data functions types
order points in time

42. step 2: translate into a program

44. translating concepts
too directly can be a
bad idea
3.

45. nested, immutable,
non-empty lists
😔

47. 2016
at peace

48. 🌇
the end
@fronx

49. http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/Naur.pdf
“design” vs. “theory”