Invited Talk - Guy Steele
What it is
Guy Steele's invited talk at Clojure/conj on the informal metanotation computer scientists use in papers to describe languages. He traces how this notation developed and why it is often unspecified and arcane.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters recommend it whenever someone asks how to read type-system or CS notation in papers.
- 7 people recommended it
- 8 different months
- 3 strong recommendations
- first 2017, last 2023
What HN commenters said
“Guy Steele gave a great talk a few years ago on”
Great talk on computer science metanotation.
Jach, 2020-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images”
“Guy Steele[0] is the definitive authority :-)”
Deeper exposition on language and notation from Guy Steele.
earleybird, 2021-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Mathematical Notation, Past and Future (2000)”
“Excellent talk by Guy Steele explaining the history of maths/comp notations”
History of math and computer science notation, pointing to sources.
amar-laksh, 2022-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: How to get better knowledge about math notations in computer science”
“Then you better stay away from another talk at the same conference, by Guy Steele [0] !”
Guy Steele talk on computer science metanotation.
hellofunk, 2017-10 · Recommendation · in “Effective Programs: 10 Years of Clojure”
“Guy Steel's talk at Clojure Conj [0] on computer science type notation touches on related issues and is a great watch.”
Guy Steele on computer science notation and its issues.
hyperion2010, 2017-11 · Recommendation · in “Problems of Traditional Math Notation (2004)”
“There are a few good talks that he gives”
One of several good Guy Steele talks, on languages.
MathMonkeyMan, 2023-07 · Recommendation · in “Coroutines for Go”
“There was a Guy Steele talk a while ago on this topic.”
Names and explains type-system notation like inference rule diagrams.
dan-robertson, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “How should I read type system notation?”
Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.
Topics: guy steele, metanotation, type theory, programming languages, clojure/conj
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