HackerTube.dev

Monktoberfest 2016: Bryan Cantrill - Oral Tradition in Software Engineering

RedMonk Tech Events · 41.3K views · 2016-11-18 · 48:00

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Bryan Cantrill's Monktoberfest 2016 talk on how software engineers pass knowledge down through oral tradition, from folk rhymes to programmer lore and stories like why C lacks a logical XOR. He argues for writing software with future generations in mind.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as an entertaining, well-delivered talk full of stories that shows the value of historical context and long comments in code.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 6 months · HN mentions 2016–2026

Topics

Software practice, open source & careersSoftware (other)
Search by tags
oral traditionbryan cantrillprogramming historycode commentssoftware folklore

What people said

OmarAssadi · 2022-08 · Strong recommendation

I’m surprised I haven’t seen this linked yet, but Bryan Cantrill of dtrace, Sun, lawnmower, Joyent, etc, fame gave an amazing talk for Monktoberfest 2016, titled “Oral Tradition in Software Engineering”, which features The Story of Mel [1]. Highly recommend checking it out — there are loads of little gems and stories like this throughout. All of his other presentations are great too and definitely worth a listen if you like this sort of thing [2]. A couple of my favorites are “Fork Yeah! The Rise and Development of Illumos” [3] and “Debugging Under Fire: Keep your Head when Systems have Lost their Mind” [4]. [1]: [VIDEO] [2]: [LINK] [3]: [LINK] [4]: [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗
thundergolfer · 2022-06 · Strong recommendation

Oral Tradition in Software Engineering[1] by Bryan Cantrill really helped me appreciate that long comments in code can be a treasured part of a software space. I started my career in a pretty low-comment Ruby codebase, but now count myself as a person partial to adding lengthy 'why not how' commentary in programs. 1. [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
shagie · 2026-01 · Recommendation

As I write this, catb is not serving promptly... so [LINK] I also recommend Monktoberfest 2016: Bryan Cantrill - Oral Tradition in Software Engineering : [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by RedMonk Tech Events, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources