Top all-time · #1584
Bertrand Meyer
Personal blog · bertrandmeyer.comprogrammingphilosophy
Bertrand Meyer's personal blog at bertrandmeyer.com covers programming and philosophy. Since 2009, 48 different Hacker News readers have linked it 81 times, most often “A full online version of Object-Oriented Software Construction, 2nd edition”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-07-21, and you can follow it by feed.
Software engineering, programming methodology, languages, verification, general technology, publication culture, and more
Most-linked posts?
- A full online version of Object-Oriented Software Construction, 2nd edition3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2022-09-04
- /OOSC2/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-07-21
- Why not program right?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-05-24
- New Paper: Theory of Programs2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2015-07-06
- Niklaus Wirth and the Importance of Being Simple2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-01-18
- Bertrand Meyer's contributions to software engineering2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-02-26
- Programming Is Simple Mathematics2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-02-26
- A Paean to Programming2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-04-23
- A Theorem of Software Engineering2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-11-01
- /2009/08/14/rejection-letter-classic/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-01-21
What Hacker News says?
Sort of. There's quite a few theories operating on computer science as we know it today. Especially in software and hardware. Examples include model-driven development, flow-based programming, lambda calculus, state machines, logic-oriented systems, and so on. The mathematical models involved underlying structuring and verification of anything built in these can be quite different although often with some overlappin…
Comment linking /2015/07/06/new-paper-theory-of-programs/
on “Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today”Submitted Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages (1991) as a story · 199 points
HN discussionAt the risk of going off on a tangent, your pessimism is unwarranted. Consider, first of all, that we're having this discussion on a message board with participants from all over the world. That's a meaningful benefit of software. I read both the original article and this discussion with a screen reader, because I'm visually impaired. I can also use a screen reader to read ebooks. Sure, I have enough sight that I co…
Comment linking /2013/03/12/apocalypse-no-part-1/
on “Software Complexity Is Killing Us”Submitted Why not program right? as a story · 133 points
HN discussion> As far as I can see, that Wikipedia section doesn't connect to anything we've discussed.... It is directly relevant to your misunderstanding of terms like "Proof" and "Formal". That and the various other references i had provided should give you enough information to update your knowledge. It is only when you start thinking at a meta-level (i.e. philosophical level) that you can understand them. > Sure, but you se…
Comment linking /oosc2/
on “Mathematics for Computer Science (2024)”Submitted Lampsort: Leslie Lamport's Non-recursive Quicksort as a story · 93 points
HN discussionView types make me think of the modifies clause introduced by some verification tools and in an earlier specification of Eiffel [1]. Basically the clause allows you to list the fields that are affected by a function with mutations. [1] https://bertrandmeyer.com/2011/07/04/if-im-not-pure-at-least...
Comment linking /2011/07/04/if-im-not-pure-at-least-my-functions-are/
on “The borrow checker within”Submitted New Paper: Theory of Programs as a story · 63 points
HN discussion>It feels like disciplined programming is not popular anymore in favor hacking, continuous releases, agile, scrum, etc. Rightly said! I learnt "correct" OOD/OOP from his book Object-Oriented Software Construction ( https://bertrandmeyer.com/oosc2/ ). It was one of the few books which actually looked at "Programming in the Large" specifically through the Object-Oriented lens and also instituted "Design By Contract (D…
Comment linking /oosc2/
on “Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages (1991)”Submitted Soundness and Completeness: With Precision as a story · 54 points
HN discussionLink to the book: https://bertrandmeyer.com/wp-content/upLoads/introduction_to...
Comment linking /wp-content/upLoads/introduction_to_the_theory_of_programming_languages.pdf
on “Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages (1991)”Submitted The one sure way to advance software engineering as a story · 40 points
HN discussion"Software is Terrible and Getting Worse" Reminds me of this satirical post: https://bertrandmeyer.com/2013/03/12/apocalypse-no-part-1/
Comment linking /2013/03/12/apocalypse-no-part-1/
on “Haskell for a New Decade [pdf]”Submitted Your IP: does Google care? as a story · 34 points
HN discussionThe link is the text of an article [1] by Simone Santini that appeared in: Computer, Volume 38 Issue 12, December 2005 It's a parody piece, although the author declared that "Many of the sentences that I use in the article are from actual reviews." (quoted by B. Meyer review in [2]) [1]: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1106763 [2]: http://bertrandmeyer.com/2009/08/14/rejection-letter-classic...
Comment linking /2009/08/14/rejection-letter-classic/
on “We are sorry to inform you”Submitted Doing it right or doing it over? as a story · 24 points
HN discussionHave you seen Lampsort? https://bertrandmeyer.com/2014/12/07/lampsort/
Comment linking /2014/12/07/lampsort/
on “The internet discovers TLA+. Now what?”Submitted Programming Is Simple Mathematics as a story · 11 points
HN discussionApparently you can generally assume x = x, which seems like a very nice feature and one that's perversely absent in all other programming languages I can think of. https://bertrandmeyer.com/2010/02/06/reflexivity-and-other-p...
Comment linking /2010/02/06/reflexivity-and-other-pillars-of-civilization/
on “Eiffel programming language”Submitted The theory and calculus of aliasing as a story · 11 points
HN discussionHere's you two on a theory of programming: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~hehner/aPToP/ https://bertrandmeyer.com/2015/07/06/new-paper-theory-of-pro...
Comment linking /2015/07/06/new-paper-theory-of-programs/
on “Generating a Useful Theory of Software Engineering [pdf]”Submitted John McCarthy as a story · 8 points
HN discussionB. Meyer made an attempt to formulate many concepts in programming using simple, set theory. It might help in discussions like this. I say might since I'm not mathematically-inclined enough to know for sure. https://bertrandmeyer.com/2015/07/06/new-paper-theory-of-pro...
Comment linking /2015/07/06/new-paper-theory-of-programs/
on “Verified dynamic programming with Σ-types in Lean”Submitted A fundamental duality of software engineering as a story · 7 points
HN discussionJust in case it is not obvious: These rejection letters are fictional[1], created as collage of negative reviews Santini received. But it's hilarious to read, I agree. Since the original site where Santini commented on it is gone, probably it's only a question of time until this document becomes internet "truth". Brave new world. [1] http://bertrandmeyer.com/2009/08/14/rejection-letter-classic...
Comment linking /2009/08/14/rejection-letter-classic/
on “Fictional peer reviews rejecting famous papers (2005)”Submitted A Paean to Programming as a story · 6 points
HN discussionThere is no confusion if you understand that Inheritance is just a "mechanism" to express three (and maybe more) different kinds of "policies" and a single class may implement any or all of them in which case it becomes important to disambiguate which methods/functions express which "policies". There is a abstract concept and a syntactical expression of that concept which needs to be clear in one's mind. Again, asse…
Comment linking /oosc2/
on “Liskov Substitution: The real meaning of inheritance”Submitted Domain Theory: the forgotten step in program verification as a story · 6 points
HN discussionThere has been a conference by Bertrand Meyer on the topic but I don't know if there is a video of it : https://bertrandmeyer.com/2015/10/12/danke-sehr/
Comment linking /2015/10/12/danke-sehr/
on “Ask HN: Are there real-world examples of moral failures of software engineers?”Submitted Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages (1991) now freely available as a story · 5 points
HN discussion
