Talks to Watch

reddit.com Interviews Peter Norvig

47K views · Feb 25, 2010 · 27:26 · 0 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2010–2012

Peter Norvig answers the top questions submitted by reddit users in a 27-minute interview. Topics include programming language choice, AI, and workplace design.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN mostly quotes it for specific Norvig remarks, such as language choice mattering less and the open-space versus cubicle trade-off.

What Hacker News said 3

Cites itpoetOct 2010

“we're getting to the point where language choice is less important”

Norvig on why language choice matters less

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An approximation of some of Norvig's recent thoughts (Feb 2010): "(1) It just turned out that when Google was started, the core programmers were C++ programmers and they were very effective. Part of it is a little bit of culture. (2) Early Lisp programmers (Erann Gat) at Google actually noticed that other programmers were equally or more productive. It has more to do with the programmer; we're getting to the point where language choice is less important (as opposed to 20 years ago). (3) Lisp is optimized for a single programmer or a small group of programmers doing exploratory work... If I want to make a change in a weekend I'd rather do it in Lisp than anything else, but by the time you get up to hundreds of programers making changes are not a language problem but a social one. (4) Libraries." Paraphrased from: this video .

in “Ask PG: Lisp vs Python (2010)” · view on HN
Cites it__JokerJan 2011

“What he is saying is there is a trade-off between using open space vs. cubicles.”

Norvig on open space versus cubicles trade-off

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To put into perspective check this fragment of interview ( this video ) by Peter Norvig. What he is saying is there is a trade-off between using open space vs. cubicles.

in “Rands in Repose: Managing Nerds” · view on HN
Cites itdiscreteeventJan 2012

Quoted Norvig thoughts on language choice

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The following are taken from: link ----norvig 449 days ago------ Peter Norvig here. [....] In terms of programming-in-the-large, at Google and elsewhere, I think that language choice is not as important as all the other choices: if you have the right overall architecture, the right team of programmers, the right development process that allows for rapid development with continuous improvement, then many languages will work for you; if you don't have those things you're in trouble regardless of your language choice. ----edw519 448 days ago---- [....] Someone should write a program that automatically posts this paragraph [Norvig's] at the top of every language war thread. I think they should write that program in php :-) ----poet 449 days ago----- An approximation of some of Norvig's recent thoughts (Feb 2010): "(1) It just turned out that when Google was started, the core programmers were C++ programmers and they were very effective. Part of it is a little bit of culture. (2) Early Lisp programmers (Erann Gat) at Google actually noticed that other programmers were equally or more productive. It has more to do with the programmer; we're getting to the point where language choice is less important (as opposed to 20 years ago). (3) Lisp is optimized for a single programmer or a small group of programmers doing exploratory work... If I want to make a change in a weekend I'd rather do it in Lisp than anything else, but by the time you get up to hundreds of programers making chang

in “Lisp as an Alternative to Java” · view on HN