Episode 34: Programming Languages and Communication With Kerri Miller

Tech Done Right

Programming Languages and Communication With Kerri Miller

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Guest

Kerri Miller: Senior Developer at TravisCI and Ruby Community Member. Co-Organizer of the Open Source and Feelings Conference. Blog.

Summary

Why is Smalltalk the Elizabethan English of programming languages? Why has it been so influential, and how does the programming language you use affect the way you think about programming. On this episode, Kerri Miller and I talk about programming languages and communication, and what we've learned from our most recent programming language adventures.

Notes

01:56 - Introduction

• Twitter Stream
• Creole Languages
• Pidgin

06:18 - SmallTalk is to Ruby as Elizabethan English is to Modern Day

08:11 - SmallTalk’s History

• Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
• Squeak
• By the way, I did get the Squeak history partially wrong. The original work was done at Apple, and when they went to Disney after that, they downloaded their Apple work as Open Source to continue. (It is possibly named Squeak because they were being wooed by Disney). The technical details are basically right, though.

17:55 - Thinking About Programming and Software Projects in a Flexible Way

• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

22:01 - Object-Oriented Programming, Thinking, and Design

• The Overton Window

28:37 - Learning New Programming Languages, Concepts, and Techniques

• The Silmarillion by Tolkien
• Nothing is Something by Sandi Metz
• Much Ado About Naught by Avdi Grimm

Related Episodes

• Back in the Testing Weeds with Sam Phippen and Justin Searls
• Ruby Tapas and Avoiding Code with Avdi Grimm
• The Elm Programming Language With Corey Haines

Special Guest: Kerri Miller.