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Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

1401 points alankay | 2 comments | 20 Jun 16 18:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.407s | source

This request originated via recent discussions on HN, and the forming of HARC! at YC Research. I'll be around for most of the day today (though the early evening).
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discreteevent ◴[20 Jun 16 19:26 UTC] No.11940642[source]▶
Hi Alan,

A lot of the VPRI work involved inventing new languages (DSLs). The results were extremely impressive but there were some extremely impressive people inventing the languages. Do you think this is a practical approach for everyday programmers? You have also recommended before that there should be clear separation between meta model and model. Should there be something similar to discipline a codebase where people are inventing their own languages? Or should just e.g. OS writers invent the languages and everyone else use a lingua franca?

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alankay ◴[20 Jun 16 20:15 UTC] No.11941154[source]▶
Tricky question. One answer would be to ask whether there is an intrinsic difference between "computer science" and (say) physics? Or are the differences just that computing is where science was in the Middle Ages?
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Natanael_L ◴[20 Jun 16 20:21 UTC] No.11941209[source]▶
Computer science is defined by information theory, and we already have mathematical proofs binding together information theory with the laws of quantum physics (such as the example of the minimum energy needed to erase one bit of entropy from memory, something which is bounded by the ambient temperature).
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alankay1 ◴[20 Jun 16 21:51 UTC] No.11941876[source]▶
Respectfully ... I think you missed the point of my answer.
replies(1): >>11941908 #
1. Natanael_L ◴[20 Jun 16 21:57 UTC] No.11941908[source]▶
Did you intend to compare the progress and formalization of the fields? Didn't pick up on that
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2. alankay1 ◴[20 Jun 16 23:36 UTC] No.11942469[source]▶
Yes, that was what I was driving at. Anyone could do physics in the Middle Ages -- they just had to get a pointy hat. A few centuries later after Newton, one suddenly had to learn a lot of tough stuff, but it was worth it because the results more than paid for the new levels of effort.