[PRL] Code's Worst Enemy

[Matthias Felleisen]

On Dec 29, 2007, at 11:50 AM, Mitchell Wand wrote:

> On Dec 23, 2007 10:11 AM, Matthias Felleisen <matthias at ccs.neu.edu>  
> wrote:
>
> I agree with all that. I do think academic projects have
> a special problem here: with very few exceptions,
> re-factoring is not something you can publish about and
> yet it requires a huge effort. We can't just afford it
> all.
>
> And the entire system actually rests on the gluing
> together of N separate existing libraries (lib scheme,
> wx:windows, and a slew of others initially and over
> the years more joined).
>
> So, what can we do about this?  If this is a (the?) Big Problem,  
> shouldn't we be working on it?


I consider it a real problem but not a 'grand challenge' type  
question. There is no single solution waiting that 'algorithmic'  
researchers (people who solve single individual problems) can work  
on. It won't attract the kind of attention that Hoare's 'grand  
challenge' will and it won't create the kind of funds that a grand  
challenge will. But it is honest work.

I do consider the PLT Scheme effort a contribution to this problem. I  
also suspect that Larceny could be minded for bits of insight on this  
front.

There is lots of work to be done and I actually think everyone on  
this list could work on some aspect of this problem without us  
trampling all over each other.

-- Matthias