Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall

The BXI2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2013–2024

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interview · general · evergreen · 2013–2024 on HN

Jonathan Schiefer interviews Larry Wall, creator of Perl, in a 33-minute conversation. Wall discusses his self-designed linguistics degree and how language and programming overlap.

Recommended as an enjoyable look at the hacker mindset and a thoughtful interview worth rewatching.

4 comments from Hacker News

@gilesvangruisen2020-05 · in “Ask HN: Best resources for non-technical founders to understand hacker mindset?”

I really enjoyed this interview with Larry Wall (of Perl fame), and I come back to it from time to time. He does a great job illustrating the hacker mindset that you mentioned ▶ this video

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@kzisme2024-08 · in “Larry Wall's Very Own Home Page”

I used to visit his personal site to see updates, but It's been awhile since I last looked. I do however frequently watch this interview with him: ▶ this video

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@hercynium2013-12 · in “The danger of "language" in programming (2009)”

Indeed, the blurring of this distinction became the means by which Larry Wall earned his college degree! link He talks about it in more depth in this interview: ▶ this video

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@justinator2013-08 · in “Vim 7.4 is released”

In this interview[1] he states that his degree is one that he designed himself (which his college allowed), and that he used his programming classes and experience as the second of two foreign languages he needed for his Linguistics degree (the first being Classical Greek). He calls this a, "hack". He talks about schooling after his undergrad, but doesn't go into what that was. [1] ▶ this video

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