Eric Normand Newsletter 464: 10 years!

Reflections 🤔

10 years!

I have been writing this newsletter for ten years. I noticed this when I did a recent migration to my new site at ericnormand.me. I thought I would use this moment to reflect back on the newsletter.

The Clojure Gazette (its original name) started as a collection of ten links with commentary from myself. I liked adding context to a good resource. The links could be old or new---that didn't matter. What mattered was that it had an impact. I selected the links for inspiration, deep thinking, and historical perspective.

The format has evolved over time. At one point it was just an essay. I experimented with interviews. I had sponsors at one point. For a while, it was all about me and teaching Clojure. It had a Clojure tip, a Clojure challenge, and links to whatever content I had done over the last week.

The current format is a think-piece, a few links, and a challenge. It worked for a while, but I think it's time for a change again. Since I'm renaming it (again!) to the Eric Normand Newsletter, it's a good time to change it.

Writing belongs on the web, not in a newsletter. And podcasts are a better place to explore ideas than writing. Something about the format! I like the idea of links, but I just don't consume that much content anymore, and I don't plan to. It will definitely be about what I'm currently interested in and thinking about. I just don't know how it will evolve.

If you're willing to join me and follow along, please stay tuned. And I'd love to hear from you. What do you want to read about each week? What newsletter formats are you liking these days? Hit reply and let me know!

Housekeeping 🧹

PurelyFunctional.tv => ericnormand.me Migration

Just a quick reminder:

I'm migrating all of my video courses from PurelyFunctional.tv to a new platform called Podia. On Podia, you can buy the courses with either a one-time purchase or a 12-month purchase plan.

PurelyFunctional.tv is now retired. Everything is no w on ericnormand.me. Although I did my best to make the transition smooth for you, I may have made some mistakes. So please let me know if anything is broken for you. I'd appreciate it.

Awesome book 📖

I just finished Coders at Work by Peter Seibel. Did you know Seibel is a second-generation Lisper? His dad worked in Lisp, and so did he.

The book was a collection of interviews with renowned programmers. They talked about programming, programming style, and sometimes what it was like in the old days of mainframes. I loved the variety of perspectives. One thing was pretty consistent: We should all read The Art of Computer Programming. (Which I haven't read and now feel the need to buy a bookshelf to store it on.)

The title was a bit misleading. I thought it would be about work, that is commercial programming. But many of the interviews were with academics or retired commercial programmers. Not that I minded, I was just surprised.

It's well worth the read and there are lots of gems in it.

Book update 📘

More Twitter messages like this one in my feed. I love it:

You can order the book on Amazon. Please leave a rating and/or review. Reviews are a primary signal that Amazon uses to promote the book. And they help others learn whether the book is for them.

You can order the print and/or eBook versions on Manning.com (use TSSIMPLICITY for 50% off).

The book is also frequently on the weekly top 10 bestsellers list on Manning.com.

Clojure Challenge 🤔

Last issue's challenge

Issue 463 -- Word search -- Submissions

This week's challenge

No challenge this week as I retool.

Rock on!
Eric Normand