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Written by (mapcar #'emacsomancer objs) on 2025-01-20 at 05:01

A link on HN to a page discussing "the two hard problems in computer science"

(i.e. "There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors.")

But there's an interesting reference in the HN comments:

"Phil Karlton famously said there are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. I gather many folks suppose "naming things" is about whether to use camel-case or not, or picking specific symbols we use to name things, which is obviously trivial and mundane.

But I always assumed Karlton meant the problem of making references work: the task of relating intension (names and ideas) and extension (things designated) in a reliable way, which is also the same topic as cache invalidation when that's about when to stop the association once invalid."

["McCusker" in the comments on a thread on 'On the history of the question of whether natural language is “illogical”', referencing an essay by Barbara Partee on the origins of formal semantics of natural languages and Montague Grammar.]

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