Phil Windley
windley.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2007
Phil Windley, a computer science professor and author, writes about Clojure, personal clouds, identity, and Alan Kay's talks.
What HN saysHN links it for his Clojure tail-recursion post and Alan Kay material; commenters give little opinion beyond mentioning his CTO Breakfast meetup.
35HN people shared it
7linked it in comments
65stories submitted
372story points
5 months agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The CompuServe of Things (2014)2 people · 18 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 2Tail Optimized Mutual Recursion in Clojure (2008)2 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 3Alan Kay: "We're running on fumes technologically today."1 people · 63 points · first shared 2009 · 20 comments on HN
- 4Worlds: Tabs for Programming by Alan Kay1 people · 55 points · first shared 2008 · 22 comments on HN
- 5A Programming Model for Personal Clouds1 people · 49 points · first shared 2012 · 5 comments on HN
- 6Alan Kay: Is Computer Science an Oxymoron?1 people · 22 points · first shared 2008 · 9 comments on HN
- 7DSLs expand the solution space, GUIs limit it to the creator's vision1 people · 19 points · first shared 2008 · 12 comments on HN
- 8The Ukrainian War, PKI, and Censorship1 people · 16 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 9Shopzilla co-founder discusses how .tel will change the way we communicate1 people · 14 points · first shared 2010 · 26 comments on HN
- 10ParenScript: A Lispy JavaScript Generator1 people · 11 points · first shared 2007 · discussion on HN
- 11Coder to Co-Founder: Entrepreneuring for Geeks (Marc Hedlund talk @ ETech)1 people · 7 points · first shared 2007 · discussion on HN
- 12Starting a High Tech Business: Get a Clubhouse1 people · 6 points · first shared 2007 · 1 comments on HN
- 13Alan Kay: Is Computer Science an Oxymoron?1 people · 6 points · first shared 2008 · 1 comments on HN
- 14Google Plus: On Trust, Reputation, Pseudonyms, and Value1 people · 6 points · first shared 2011 · 2 comments on HN
- 15Ephemeral Relationships1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
salemh · 2010-12-23
For those along the lines of "History of Rome," I would recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (which has a 3 part series on the Fall of the Roman Empire (which goes back several hundred years). He also has a 4 part series on the Eastern Front of WWII, "Toughness" in generations in History, and many other interesting podcasts.
He is very engaging and informed (he was / is an investigative journalist and a history buff, taking from multiple sources and citing biases or clashes with alternative sources.)
http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive
He has a separate podcast "Common Sense" for politics.
Phil Windley (of Kynetx, local to UT) has diverse tech podcasts: http://www.windley.com/
andreyf · 2008-09-24
Alan Kay uses an interesting analogy to explain the distinction between "Computer Science" and "Software Engineering":
UCLA has one computer science department, but 25 full departments of biology (not counting medical school stuff). Why? Biologists are smarter then we are. When things are bogging down, the best thing to do is to go create a new department. (http://www.windley.com/cgi-bin/printthis.pl?url=http://www.windley.com…
I think the pharmacy:"software engineering"::biology:"computer science" metaphor is pretty insightful. So to answer your question - people discount a formal education in CS because it isn't necessary to write good code, just like pharmacists don't need the formal education that research biologists go through.
kgwxd · 2021-11-03
I believe it was due to limitations of the JVM at the time.
Edit: https://www.windley.com/archives/2008/11/tail_optimized_mutual_recursi…
emilam · 2010-09-01
I've enjoyed the hackers and founders meetup in mountain view. I really do enjoy how unstructured it is compared to Launch Up and the Web Startup Group.
Another good group is the CTO Breakfast hosted by Phil Windley at the Novell Cafeteria http://www.windley.com/cto_forum
wmf · 2009-11-25
gbvb · 2013-05-04
Software development is like movie making: http://www.silicon-stories.com/movie-making-software-development.php
Software architecture is like city planning: http://www.windley.com/archives/2003/09/enterprise_arch_4.shtml
Software development is not like manufacturing: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/10/is-software-development-like-…
Software development is like manufacturing: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321150783/codihorr-20
I believe that software development can be disciplined (development of missile control systems, payroll systems) or be agile (instagram, pinterest, facebook...). I think it all depends on what is considered to be the most valued resource for the organization and the software it is planning to build/compose/manufacture/make.
If we value system resources (real time constraints, compliance, SLA), we tend to be more like building systems.
If we value end users experience in the final outcome, it tends be agile and take the notion of the movie/novel et al.
turtleyacht · 2023-04-13
Is trust. From Self-Sovereign Identity are some essays:
- The Domains of Identity
Kaliya “Identity Woman” Young
http://identitywoman.net/domains-of-identity
- New Hope for Digital Identity
Doc Searls
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/new-hope-digital-identity
- The Architecture of Identity Systems
Phil Windley
https://www.windley.com/archives/2020/09/the_architecture_of_identity_…
- Three Dimensions of Identity
Jason Law and Daniel Hardman
https://medium.com/evernym/three-dimensions-of-identity-bc06ae4aec1c
- Meta-Platforms and Cooperative Network-of-Network Effects
Dr. Sam Smith
https://medium.com/selfrule/meta-platforms-and-cooperative-network-of-…
- Verifiable Credentials Aren’t Credentials. They’re Containers.
Timothy Ruff
https://rufftimo.medium.com/verifiable-credentials-arent-credentials-t…
- The Seven Deadly Sins of Customer Relationships
Jamie Smith
http://evernym.com/seven-sins
[1] Preukschat, A. Drummond, R. Manning. 2021.