Hans Hübner Interview

Hans Hübner will be talking at Clojure eXchange 2016 in December.

Follow him on Twitter and GitHub.

PurelyFunctional.tv: How did you get into functional programming?

Hans Hübner: After having wasted my youth on C++, perl was my gateway drug to dynamic and functional programming - It was my first language with first-class functions, and that was a revelation. Perl lead me to Common Lisp, which I used for almost a decade professionally. In fact, "functional programming" today means much more than first-class functions, and I must admit that I'm not that much of a functional programmer from that perspective.

PF.tv: Very briefly, what is your talk about?

HH: In my talk, I will reflect about persistence in the traditional sense. What does it mean for data to outlive your application run- or even life time? Do you put your data or your application first? What's the meaning of identity in a world of values?

PF.tv: What do you hope people will take away from the talk?

HH: I hope that my talk can contribute to making good choices when choosing persistence solutions.

PF.tv: What concepts do you recommend people be familiar with to maximize their experience with the talk?

HH: Identity & values, transactions.

PF.tv: What resources are available for people who want to study up before the talk?

HH: Applications have always had the need to store data that outlived single program runs. A wide variety of models to deal with that need exist, from orthogonally persistent, single address space systems to database applications in which the application and the data it operates on live separate lives and all their interaction is through projection. A rich body of research on the topic exists online, and I can't point out single resources.

PF.tv: Where can people follow you online?

HH: I am [@hanshuebner]Twitter on Twitter.

PF.tv: Are there any projects you'd like people to be aware of? How can people help out?

HH: In no particular order: MirageOS, L3 and L4, Inside MarkLogic Server, the Plastic Cell Architecture.

PF.tv: Where do you see the state of functional programming in 10 years?

HH: I'm a multiparadigm person, and I don't care so much about the state of a certain paradigm. I hope that in 10 years, there will be a standardized, modern Lisp language which incorporates smarter compiler technology to improve both the development experience and provide for compile time type inferencing and automated program reasoning. I am hesitant to claim that there should be a new Common Lisp, as it is no longer a viable platform for development in current software environments due to its age and lack of standardization of features considered normal today. Yet, one of the reasons why Common Lisp still exists is the fact that the standard was large and complete enough to create a viable platform for almost 2 decades (granted, for a very small community). Can Clojure be stabilized to evolve it into a dependable platform for long-lived software systems?

PF.tv: If functional programming were a superhero, what superpower would it have?

HH: ? :D