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Great Impractical Ideas in Computer Science: PowerPoint Programming

Tom Wildenhain · lecture · Watch on YouTube

Computability & complexity theoryUniversity lectures & coursesProgramming language design

What it is

Tom Wildenhain's guest lecture for CMU's Esoteric Programming Languages course shows that PowerPoint transitions and slides are Turing complete without macros, building up to a mind-bending fractal ending.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Repeatedly recommended in best-talks threads as a fun, mind-blowing demonstration of unexpected computation.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “Strong recommend!”

    Hour-long talk on PowerPoint Turing-completeness with mind-melting fractal ending.

    gregsadetsky, 2020-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Best Talks of 2020?”

  2. “Really fun, kinda blew my mind.”

    Fun talk on programming in PowerPoint.

    gnatman, 2023-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: Best tech talks you have heard in 2023?”

  3. “Recording of a guest lecture he gave for the Esoteric Programming Languages course at CMU.”

    Hour-long guest lecture on PowerPoint programming.

    K0SM0S, 2020-01 · Recommendation · in “The “No Code” Delusion”

  4. “He does not use VBA macros, just shows that PowerPoint transitions and slides are Turing Complete.”

    Shows PowerPoint transitions and slides are Turing complete without macros.

    jjmarr, 2024-07 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's the best YouTube lecture you've seen recently?”

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

Topics: powerpoint, turing completeness, esoteric languages, computation, cmu

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