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Factor: an extensible interactive language

Google TechTalks5 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2014–2025
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talk · intermediate · evergreen · 2014–2025 on HN

A 2008 Google Tech Talk in which Slava Pestov introduces Factor, a concatenative language influenced by Forth, Lisp and Smalltalk. It covers the interactive environment, metaprogramming, and the language's modern high-level features and libraries.

HN recommends it as the best introduction to Factor and concatenative programming, with commenters saying it impressed them with the engineering.

8 comments from Hacker News

@fud1012025-12 · in “Ask HN: Why did Python fail to evolve?”

It's funny because 3 dropped in 2008, the same year Slava was demonstrating Factor in google tech talks which was a contemporary language to python3 that completely blew Python out of the water. ▶ this video

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@xelxebar2018-10 · in “Concatenative language (2017)”

I just stumbled across this Google Tech Talk on [factor][0] last night! It absolutely blew my mind. The engineering looks to be top notch, and the video is 9 years old to boot! ▶ this video Anyway, really want to give Factor a try for some personal projects. Would love to hear anecdotes from people who futz with this stuff. [0]: link

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@johnisgood2025-08 · in “The V Programming Language”

I agree. I remember his talk on Factor. I wish people gave enough support back then so he could work on it full-time. Here is his talk on Factor: ▶ this video , back from 2008.

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@benhoyt2020-01 · in “Factor: A Practical Stack Languge”

As someone who built Forth compilers back in the day, I really like this language. There's a nice overview of Factor as a paper here: link and a Google tech talk video of Slava Pestov (Factor's creator) showing off the language here: ▶ this video

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@agumonkey2014-01 · in “K, by Arthur Whitney (2005)”

I see what you did there. ps: just in case here's a very enjoyable talk, not about, but by Slava ▶ this video Beautiful and impressive.

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