Hacker Interviews: Larry Wall
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as an enjoyable look at the hacker mindset and a thoughtful interview worth rewatching.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2013 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec gilesvangruisen · 2020-05 · 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 [this video]
Recommends kzisme · 2024-08 · 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: [this video]
Cites justinator · 2013-08 · on “Vim 7.4 is released”
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]
Cites hercynium · 2013-12 · 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: [this video]