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Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall

Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2013–2024.

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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.

Why Hacker News recommends it

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

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
1
discussed on HN
2013–2024
“I really enjoyed this interview with Larry Wall (of Perl fame)”
— gilesvangruisen, May 2020, in “Ask HN: Best resources for non-technical founders to understand hacker mindset?”

What HN commenters said

4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

gilesvangruisenMay 2020Strongly recommends

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

in “Ask HN: Best resources for non-technical founders to understand hacker mindset?” · View on HN

kzismeAug 2024Recommends

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

in “Larry Wall's Very Own Home Page” · View on HN

hercyniumDec 2013Cites it

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

in “The danger of "language" in programming (2009)” · View on HN

justinatorAug 2013Cites it

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

in “Vim 7.4 is released” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Python, Ruby & scripting languagesTech pioneers & interviewsLanguage & linguisticslarry wallperllinguisticshacker cultureprogramming languages