The value of values

by Rich Hickey (31min)

Notes

03:14 Mutable objects are nothing more than abstractions over places.

04:10 Place-Oriented Programming: new information replaces old

05:27 Born of limitations of old computers. Those limitations are long gone.

Memory is essentially an open system and an associative system. It is not an address based system.

10:00 Comparability is where we derive our ability to do logic and to make decisions.

Values are immutable and values are semantically transparent.

11:37 Value Propositions:

• can be shared
• support reproducible results
• easy to fabricate
• language independent
• generic
• aggregate to values
• easy conveyance
• easy perception
• make the best interfaces
• reduce coordination
• location flexibility

More code equals more bugs.

20:11 Facts are values, not places. They incorporate time.

Fact — an event or thing known to have happened or existed.

21:35 Knowledge is derived from facts by comparing and combining, especially from different time points.

22:19 You cannot update a fact, because you can’t change the past.

Information systems are fundamentally about facts.

23:00 Don’t use process constructs for information.

23:56 Information is not a little machine.

26:02 Programmer I.T. uses value-oriented systems: source control and logs.