The Philosophy of Computer Programming

• If you have ever done any computer programming, you should watch this seminar. For it shows how simple tweaks in our programming languages could make creativity flourish.
• If you have ever been interested in the history of computing, you should watch this seminar. For it shows that there have been visionaries in computer science that think of the computer as something that can transform us.
• If you have ever considered yourself a visual learner, you should watch this seminar. For it shows the power of how seeing immediate feedback can accelerate your knowledge.
• If you have ever been interested in science or math, you should watch this seminar. For it shows how the merging of analytic thinking and real time feedback can make solving equations and the scientific method so easy a 4th grader could do it.

Bret Victor is a software pioneer and artist. He has worked for Apple and Al Gore (among others). He has also shown that math does not have to be abstract with his Kill Math project. In this seminar he starts off fairly dry, showing some software coding but quickly shows that by exploiting the tools available, programming creativity explodes.

He then shows how intuitive animation production could be on the iPad and then finishes off by using the example of Larry Tesler (the guy who invented cut, copy, paste - really) that invention can be so much more than just making new stuff.

In the end, this seems like the perfect fit for a blog that is called "Don't fight tech, use the right tech". I mean if you look at how programming is still done, it's ironic that it hasn't changed much in 40 years. Sure there are new languages but the fundamental process is the same. Bret shows that it doesn't have to be.

Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle from CUSEC on Vimeo.