Lambda the Ultimate

The EAPLS (European Association for Programming Languages and Systems) is looking for new board members. I have placed my candidacy with the following statement:

The field of computer science is changing profoundly. Computing systems now have the processing power, storage capacity, and networking ability to easily handle enormous data sets. Data-intensive computing using large-scale distributed algorithms is realizing one by one the old dreams of artificial intelligence. Traditional research in programming languages and systems has solved most of the problems of computing with small data sets. It must now grow up and address computing with large data sets, for which programming languages at a much higher level of abstraction are needed. This is already happening: data-intensive language abstractions (of which map-reduce and its relatives are just the tip of the iceberg) are already catalyzing the new computer science. As a member of the EAPLS board, I will encourage programming language research to move in this direction, as a key part of the new computer science.

I happen to believe that most of the important problems of programming languages "in the small" are solved and that we are on the brink of a new revolution that will have a profound effect on programming languages. I would very much like to hear what LtU members think about this!