Factor: an extensible interactive language

Google TechTalks · 59.5K views · 2008-10-29 · 1:36:40

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Overview

A 2008 Google Tech Talk in which Slava Pestov introduces Factor, a concatenative language influenced by Forth, Lisp and Smalltalk. It covers the interactive environment, metaprogramming, and the language's modern high-level features and libraries.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as the best introduction to Factor and concatenative programming, with commenters saying it impressed them with the engineering.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2014–2025

Topics

Programming language design Functional programming

What people said

fud101 · 2025-12 · Strong recommendation
It's funny because 3 dropped in 2008, the same year Slava was demonstrating Factor in google tech talks which was a contemporary language to python3 that completely blew Python out of the water. [VIDEO]
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xelxebar · 2018-10 · Strong recommendation
I just stumbled across this Google Tech Talk on [factor][0] last night! It absolutely blew my mind. The engineering looks to be top notch, and the video is 9 years old to boot! [VIDEO] Anyway, really want to give Factor a try for some personal projects. Would love to hear anecdotes from people who futz with this stuff. [0]: [LINK]
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johnisgood · 2025-08 · Recommendation
I agree. I remember his talk on Factor. I wish people gave enough support back then so he could work on it full-time. Here is his talk on Factor: [VIDEO] , back from 2008.
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Sources

Video by Google TechTalks, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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