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The most popular blog posts about programming languages on Hacker News. 5,634 posts.
LLVM Intermediate Representation is better than assembly
The crucial part is IR. It's a common language that sits between the high-level program and the low-level backend . IR is used to express high level concepts and is specific enough that any backend can produce a fast machine code.
TypeScript’s quirks: How inconsistencies make the language more complex
Asana engineers are TypeScript fans, and we’ve learned a lot about where TypeScript shines and struggles. Here are 3 of our favorite TypeScript surprises.
Why SICP Matters
In 2011, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of MIT, the Boston Globe made a list of the most important innovations developed there. They asked me to explain the importance of SICP, and this is what I sent them:
C++ is an absolute blast
Where I try to explain why I feel like C\+\+ is so much fun, and to correct some misinformation.
ML needs a new programming language – Interview with Chris Lattner
Listen in on Jane Street’s Ron Minsky as he has conversations with engineers working on everything from clock synchronization to reliable multicast, build systems to reconfigurable hardware. Get a peek at how Jane Street approaches problems, and how those ideas relate to tech more broadly.
Classes vs. Data Structures
Or rather, an object is a set of functions that operate on implied data elements.
State of the Common Lisp ecosystem, 2020
This is a description of the Common Lisp ecosystem, as of January, 2021, from the perspective of a user and contributor.The purpose of this article is both to give an overview of the ecosystem, and to help drive consolidation in each domain.Each application domain has recommendations for consolidating that part of the…
Learn Haskell Fast and Hard
I really believe all developers should learn Haskell. I don’t think everyone needs to be super Haskell ninjas, but they should at least discover what Haskell has to offer. Learning Haskell opens your mind.
Why Not Rust?
I've recently read an article criticizing Rust, and, while it made a bunch of good points, I didn't enjoy it --- it was an easy to argue with piece. In general, I feel that I can't recommend an article criticizing Rust. This is a shame --- confronting drawbacks is important, and debunking low effort/miss informed…
The .NET Language Strategy
The .NET Language Strategy I am constantly aware of the enormous impact our language investments have on so many people’s daily lives. Our languages are a huge strength of the .NET platform, and a primary factor in people choosing to bet on it – and stay on it. I’ve been here on the .NET languages […]
From zero to 10M lines of Kotlin
We’re sharing lessons learned from shifting our Android development from Java to Kotlin. Kotlin is a popular language for Android development and offers some key advantages over Java. As of today,…
Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer? (2003)
Try to spot who liked hacking away at corpses rather than computers
Why is Rust difficult?
Rust is considered difficult to learn by many people. Indeed, when I learned it, I considered it to be the hardest programming language up to that time I’ve met. And that says something, since I have a habit of learning whatever language I find interesting. Looking back, I’m not sure I was correct, C++ is probably…
Node v6.9.0 (LTS)
Node.js® is a free, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment that lets developers create servers, web apps, command line tools and scripts.
PHP Addiction
I wrote Tumblr, Instapaper, and Second Crack in PHP. I continue to use it because I know it extremely well, it’s very easy to use and deploy, and it’s nearly maintenance-free on servers. When you’re a programmer forced to also be your own sysadmin, that’s very attractive.
Zig as an alternative to writing unsafe Rust
There are endless debates online about Rust vs. Zig, this post explores a side of the argument I don't think is mentioned enough.
“I Could Rewrite Curl”
Collected quotes and snippets from people publicly sneezing off or belittling what curl is, explaining how easy it would be to make a replacement in no time with no effort or generally not being very helpful. These are statements made seriously. For all I know, they were not ironic. If you find others to add ……
Thoughts on Elixir, Phoenix and LiveView after 18 months of commercial use
I’ve been leading a team developing an application using Elixir, Phoenix and LiveView for the last 18 months and accumulated some thoughts on the stack. For the most part, it has been a very pleasant experience.
Unison: a next-generation programming platform
A friendly programming language from the future.
Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell
Using logic programming to beat the game
Embedding Python in Elixir, it's fine
Introducing Python interpreter embedded in Elixir and a Fine way to write your NIFs.