Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages by Shane Warden, Anders Hejlsberg, Peter Weinberger, Bertrand Meyer, Bjarne Stroustrup, James Rumbaugh, Simon Peyton Jones, Brian W. Kernighan, Charles Geschke, Adin D. Falkoff, Roberto Ierusalimschy, John Hughes, James Gosling, Guido van Rossum, Don Chamberlin, Luiz Hernique de Figueiredo, Grady Booch, Charles D. Moore, Federico Biancuzzi, John Warnock, Thomas E. Kurtz, Alfred V. Aho, Tom Love, Brad Cox, Larry Wall, Paul Hudak, Robin Milner, Ivar Jacobson, Philip Walder

3.63 AVERAGE

will_sargent's review

3.0
You know what would help in this book? Actual detailed technical nerding out.

I want to see hardcore geek action.
I want to see the Liskov Substitution Principle flying.
I want to feel the monads land on my face.
I want wall to wall Hindley-Milner inference debates.

But you don't get that here. These are interviews at the most general level, done for casual interest and bragging rights. The details that make programming langages interesting are the ones that can't be given in a general interview. They require context, depth and background knowledge. What's left is what's comfortable and appealing for 99% of the interested population.

Which is great, in theory. I read the whole thing and I felt like I understood most of it.

THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WANTED. Feh.