"Turning 'wat' into 'why'" - Katie McLaughlin (Kiwi Pycon X)

Katie McLaughlin explores the historical and design reasons behind famous programming language quirks and edge cases.

Katie McLaughlin To a seasoned dev, using a different programming language might be... an experience. Everything is a double? Equality isn't equality?! WAT!?! There are two directions this could go: "Oh, this language is TERRIBLE. I HATE IT". Or: "Huh.. I wonder why that is..." Take a trip along the latter path through a dozen different languages and understand why things the way they are. "Programming languages are repeatedly touted to have strange edge cases. Footguns. Wats. The canonical 'wat' talk (destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat) shows some of these for Ruby and JavaScript, but doesn't go into any detail into the 'why' In this talk, take a tour of a dozen different programming languages, from JavaScript to Haskell, Python to Perl, Elixir and more; and see not only the 'wat', but the 'why': is it a misunderstanding based on assumption from another programming language? A compiler optimisation? A known bug that can't be fixed due to backwards compatibility concerns? Attendees will come away from this talk with a greater understanding about how to turn a 'wat' into a 'why'. Attendees will also be shown how avoid taking their misunderstanding of a programming language and the nuances around it and turning into contempt for those who develop and use the language." "Katie has worn many different hats over the years. She has been a software developer for many languages, systems administrator for multiple operating systems, and speaker on many different topics. When she's not changing the world, she enjoys making tapestries, cooking, and seeing just how well various application stacks handle emoji." #kiwipycon #kiwipycon2019 #python #pycon #wellington #programming Kiwi PyCon is an annual conference aimed at promoting and educating people about the Python programming language. The New Zealand Python User Group is proud to present the ninth national Python conference in New Zealand. Video licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Sun Aug 25 10:40:00 2019 at Auditorium 1