On today’s episode, we sit down with educator, researcher, and all-around information guru Simon Peyton Jones to learn all about programming languages and their impact on hardware, software, and research/development. Simon also brings some professional insight into Excel as a programing language. Oddly enough, around the time Rob met Simon, Rob began to think of Excel as a programming language. In order to be a language, the formulas have to deal with both space and time, so Excel formula language absolutely fits the bill. Just be careful how you code. On older systems, if you perform a VLOOKUP at the same time as a nested IF, it might disrupt the space-time continuum and bring about the blue screen of death!

As an engineering fellow at Epic Games, a researcher for Microsoft Research Cambridge, and a professor at Glasgow University, Simon also brings a unique perspective on changing the educational system to include base learning on computer science as part of general education. Not only did Simon step up and suggest change, but he also followed through and created a coalition to guide the program and ensure future expansion as needed. When Simon talks about research, people listen!

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Also in this episode:

Simon Peyton Jones’s bookmarks!

Alonzo Church – Lambda Calculus

Touring machine

Automata Theory

LAMBDA: The Ultimate Excel worksheet function. (Andy Gordon, Simon Peyton Jones)

LISP functional language

Microsoft Research – Cambridge

Arthur Norman – functional programming

John Backus Turing Award

Setting up for Success w/David McKinnis

Declarative Programing

Immutability Changes Everything

Computing at School – CAS

Scratch - Computer Programming

Logo - Apple

Estimating the value of Pi using Monte Carlo

Code.org

Tesla One-Way Valve

Turing Tumble

Robo Rally Board Game

Unreal Engine

Joe Duffy on Transactional Memory

Haskell Language