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"The Mess We're In" by Joe Armstrong

Strange Loop Conference · talk · Watch on YouTube

Software architecture & designFunctional programmingSoftware practice, open source & careers

What it is

Joe Armstrong, co-inventor of Erlang, gives a funny and opinionated Strange Loop talk on the tangled state of software: build tools, package managers, entropy and the physical limits of computation. He argues for ideas like naming things by content hash and throwing away your first version.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN returns to it constantly as a witty, still-accurate diagnosis of why software is bloated and messy, and as a go-to recommendation in any thread on modules, package managers or software quality.

  • 10 people recommended it
  • 8 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Highly recommend his thesis (2003) and a few of his great interviews/presentations”

    Armstrong talks about how software can get better, with snark

    dpeck, 2019-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Joe Armstrong has died”

  2. “one of those talks which were incredibly funny and informative at the same time”

    Funny and informative talk, including a story about a single Erlang code comment

    zaph0d_, 2019-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Joe Armstrong has died”

  3. “Fantastic watch, thanks for recommending.”

    Famous Joe Armstrong talk, a fantastic watch

    leonroy, 2019-05 · Strong recommendation · in “John Carmack on QuakeWorld latency and business model (1996)”

  4. “The Mess We're In" by Joe Armstrong [3]”

    0xmohit, 2016-10 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?”

  5. “Joe Armstrong gives a very good talk about ideas in the article”

    Armstrong on the article's ideas

    hepek, 2017-12 · Recommendation · in “Physical Limits of Computation (2009)”

  6. “Still so spot on.”

    Armstrong's talk on software mess remains spot on

    tosh, 2019-04 · Recommendation · in “Joe Armstrong has died”

  7. “Might I suggest Joe Armstrong”

    Suggests Armstrong as a broader perspective beyond Fowler

    camgunz, 2019-08 · Recommendation · in “Software Architecture Guide”

  8. “here is a nice (and funny) talk from Joe Armstrong on the topic”

    Funny talk on broken, bloated software and nobody understanding systems

    badsectoracula, 2021-12 · Recommendation · in “C64 OS: make a Commodore 64 feel fast and useful”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: erlang, joe armstrong, entropy, package managers, content addressing, strange loop

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