tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post3243834471117299874..comments2024-01-16T14:32:49.175+00:00Comments on Arcane Sentiment: A controlled experiment in static typeArcane Sentimenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04144052171693893368noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post-68065536246309191622013-09-06T23:12:55.338+00:002013-09-06T23:12:55.338+00:00I think he's right, though. There have been l...I think he's right, though. There have been loads of type-theory and other PLT advances published in old papers for years now whose real-world usage ranges from "very little" to "absolutely zero". Even among PL experts, who writes their code in Disciple or Idris rather than Haskell '98 + GHC extensions?Eli Senneshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03270702305052599002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post-86063362389142952552013-09-06T18:51:45.044+00:002013-09-06T18:51:45.044+00:00It's certainly disrespectful, but what should ...It's certainly disrespectful, but what should I say when I think most of the subfield are wasting their time on unimportant problems?<br /><br />I've somewhat avoided blogging about this, because a “what's wrong with type theory” post would not go over well. Maybe if I approach it as a plea for more applicable theory (e.g. type systems that don't explode when used outside a frictionless vacuum), and where possible speak of “program analysis” instead of “type theory”...<br /><br />I suspect this is mostly a math/engineering culture issue: to mathematicians, pure and applied math are equally valuable, but to engineers, work that isn't applicable is almost failure. Engineers have some respect for pure math, but most type theory is promoted as applied research, by which standard it doesn't look good.Arcane Sentimenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04144052171693893368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post-40045034810381030602013-09-06T14:46:23.319+00:002013-09-06T14:46:23.319+00:00> One experiment like this can do more to advan...> One experiment like this can do more to advance our understanding of type systems than ten type theory papers, because it addresses questions we care about, not just ones we know how to answer.<br /><br />It's disrespectful to tell people what they should be doing and demean their current work.<br /><br />Doing rigorous and effective field study of the kind you suggest takes an enormous amount of work, and needs a vastly different skillset than the theoretical work you are trying to belittle. You can probably find people interested in field studies without having to insult the people that are not.gaschenoreply@blogger.com