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Comment by rch | Hacker News Reader

I disagree with language like 'reimagining programming' in this context almost as much as I regret seeing Bret Victor's name being dragged in for no reason -- to the best of my knowledge, Bret Victor didn't design Light Table, and doesn't inform its progress.

There is progress to be made, and I'll be excited again when I see some.

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I've seen the same "oh, this is only for beginners" reaction to some of Victor's ideas on making data visible and making libraries "discoverable" that seems needlessly dismissive. That's why I mentioned him. Also, Light Table's initial concept was inspired by his work[0].

I'm not always impressed by Light Table, but I appreciate the work the team has put into the problem and think they have good ideas.

[0]: http://www.chris-granger.com/2012/04/12/light-table---a-new-...

The problem with a program-as-the-mental-model is that you will invariably hit a barrier (whether that be the halting problem or some simpler manifestation). I'm much more sympathetic to the Don't Kill Math[0] view. You need (abstract) analysis and no amount of IDE bling is going to eliminate that necessity.

[0] http://www.evanmiller.org/dont-kill-math.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7763663

Yes, I know the history. That's precisely why I'm so disappointed.

I believe in the concept and potential; it's the execution that I'm finding fault with.

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