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RailsConf 09: Robert Martin, "What Killed Smalltalk Could K

O'Reilly · talk · Watch on YouTube

Programming language designSoftware practice, open source & careersPython, Ruby & scripting languages

What it is

Robert Martin's RailsConf 2009 talk looks at why Smalltalk lost out despite its technical strengths. He draws lessons about language communities and arrogance that he argues could hurt Ruby too.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it in discussions of language evangelism, community dynamics and zealotry, as an accessible account of how a good language can die for non-technical reasons.

  • 5 people recommended it
  • 6 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2012, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “pretty interesting”

    Talk on why Smalltalk died and lessons for Ruby

    AlexFromBelgium, 2012-04 · Recommendation · in “In which we plot an escape from the quagmire of equality (Clojure and Emacs)”

  2. “probably worth watching if you enjoy Uncle Bob's soulful stylings”

    How arrogance affected Smalltalk and language communities

    brudgers, 2015-07 · Recommendation · in “Some Functional Programmers Are Arrogant”

  3. “The tldw reasons he gives for why Smalltalk died”

    Reasons Smalltalk died, summarized as tldw

    duncanawoods, 2015-08 · Recommendation · in “Redline Smalltalk for the JVM”

  4. “maybe one should also check this older talk”

    Older talk worth checking as related

    pjmlp, 2016-11 · Recommendation · in “Keep Ruby Weird Again [video]”

  5. “I find this talk [0] very informative and useful while interacting with other languages and communities.”

    Informative, perspective-broadening talk on language communities

    bayindirh, 2022-09 · Recommendation · in “Go runtime: 4 years later”

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

Topics: smalltalk, ruby, uncle bob, language adoption, evangelism

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