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Computer Science - A Guide for the Perplexed • Joe Armstrong • GOTO 2018

GOTO Conferences · 66.4K views · 2018-08-29 · 1:02:28

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Overview

Joe Armstrong's GOTO 2018 talk contrasts the problems computer scientists study with the problems users have. He revisits forgotten great ideas such as tuple spaces, flow-based programming, Xanadu and Unix pipes, with anecdotes.

On Hacker News

HN calls it a superb, funny and engaging talk, and links it often after Armstrong's death as one of his best.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2019–2021

Topics

History of computingFunctional programmingSoftware (other)
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joe armstrongerlangforgotten ideastuple spacesunix pipes

What people said

vector_spaces · 2021-01 · Strong recommendation

One of my favorite talks by Joe Armstrong -- computer science, a guide for the perplexed. He talks through what he feels are some important but forgotten ideas in CS [VIDEO]

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djhworld · 2019-04 · Strong recommendation

This is devastating, RIP. I watched this talk a few months ago [VIDEO] called "Computer Science - A Guide for the Perplexed" It was superb, I think it's unfortunate that he had to rush through it because of time constraints, his anecdotes and delivery were really engaging and funny.

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dpeck · 2019-04 · Recommendation

That is so sad, he was in his late 60s and it seemed like he had a lot of life left in him, talking about how software can get better and having a great (and sometimes snarky) outlook on the profession. Highly recommend his thesis (2003) and a few of his great interviews/presentations for anyone who isn’t familiar with Joe, it captures a lot of what he thought about and pushed for in his professional life. [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [VIDEO] I hope his family and friends can find some comfort in how much he was appreciated and admired in the development community.

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Sources

Video by GOTO Conferences, 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.

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