Lambda the Ultimate

I don't recall a discussion here on ISO/IEC TR 24772, "Guidance to avoiding vulnerabilities in programming languages through language selection and use." This report describes programming language vulnerabilities in a generic way, and is supported by language specific annexes.

An introduction to this report can be found on page 46 of this issue of the Ada User Journal (how unweb like!). A lengthier discussion can be found in this issue of the same publication.

I understand this has been tweeted all over tarnation and discussed on Reddit, but a quick Google search of LtU seems to show that it hasn't been mentioned here. Which is a shame. So, here goes: Types Are Anti-Modular by Gilad Bracha. A nice followup on some of the theses that Gilad put forth in FLOSS Weekly 159: Newspeak where he was interviewed by Randal Schwartz.

A couple of quotes from the interview:

Learning is brain damage. I've spent the last 18 to 20 years unlearning the things I learned in my Ph.D. studies.

Also:

[The fact that Newspeak is not mainstream] is actually a competitive advantage.

Not exactly a new sentiment but still… Overall, the FLOSS interview with Bracha was almost as good as the one with Ingalls.