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"Stop Writing Dead Programs" by Jack Rusher (Strange Loop 2022)

Strange Loop Conference · talk · Watch on YouTube

Programming language designTesting, debugging & developer toolsFunctional programming

What it is

Jack Rusher's Strange Loop 2022 talk argues that most programming languages are still designed around punchcard-era assumptions. He makes the case for live, interactive programming environments, drawing on Lisp, Smalltalk and REPL-driven development.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN returns to it constantly as the talk on live programming and what modern tooling is missing, though a few found it too much.

  • 9 people recommended it
  • 8 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “One of my favorite talks is”

    What live development could be

    jasonjmcghee, 2025-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Graphics livecoding in Common Lisp”

  2. “Jack Rusher sums up what better programming looks like in his Strange Loop talk”

    Sums up what better programming looks like

    okaleniuk, 2023-01 · Recommendation · in “LearnCPP: Website devoted to teaching you how to program in C++”

  3. “Recommended watch, not least for demystifying the origin of vi's navigation keys and the choice of ~/ for /home/you.”

    Demystifies origin of vi navigation keys and ~/

    ttctciyf, 2023-01 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's your unpopular tech, programming opinion”

  4. “To get a better idea of what I think is the better approach, check out these talks”

    Better paradigm than static batch software

    trashburger, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “Dart 3.1 and a retrospective on functional style programming in Dart”

  5. “A good presentation on what we're missing”

    Shows what working in a live Lisp environment offers

    llm_trw, 2024-03 · Recommendation · in “(How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (In Python)) (2010)”

  6. “Good talk of relevance”

    Relevant talk on live, REPL-driven programming

    iLemming, 2024-05 · Recommendation · in “A Road to Common Lisp (2018)”

  7. “the video is really cool but little bit long”

    Showcases old tooling lacking introspection

    imachine1980_, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “Lisp: Icing or Cake?”

  8. “There is a great talk by Jack Rusher [1] on why having really slow iteration loops and being too disconnected from running programs”

    Slow feedback loops create desire for theorem proving

    hresvelgr, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “Formal methods: Just good engineering practice?”

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

Topics: live programming, repl, lisp, developer tools, language design

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