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Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall

The BXI

40K subscribers • 1 video on Hallway

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  • Recommended by 3 people: 2 on Hacker News and 1 on Lobsters.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2020 to 2024.
  • Presented by Larry Wall, creator of Perl

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

91K views13 years ago3 recommendations

Programming languagesHistory and cultureLanguage design and type systemsPeople who shaped computingHistory of computing

Larry Wall discusses his self-designed linguistics degree, the hacker mindset, and how language and programming overlap.

This is an interview I did with Larry Wall, the creator of the programming language Perl.

Why it's here

3 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended for its insights into the hacker mindset and how Larry Wall's background in linguistics influenced his creation of Perl.

gilesvangruisenon Hacker News • Recommends

On “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 link to this video
View on Hacker News

indigoon Lobsters • Recommends

Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall (2013)
6View on Lobsters

kzismeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “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: link to this video
View on Hacker News

justinatoron Hacker News • Mentions

On “Vim 7.4 is released”

In this interview1 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 link to this video
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hercyniumon Hacker News • Mentions

On “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: link to this video
View on Hacker News