The Mess We're In
Joe Armstrong·2014·Strange Loop·45 minJoe Armstrong, the creator of Erlang, on why our software is in such a state — and a handful of unfashionable ideas about what to do about it.
Turning the Database Inside Out with Apache Samza
Martin Kleppmann·2015·Strange LoopKleppmann argues we've been thinking about databases backwards: the log is the source of truth, and the database is just a materialized view of it.
Building Scalable Stateful Services
Caitie McCaffrey·2015·Strange LoopStateless services are easy to scale but expensive to use. McCaffrey makes the case for putting state back in the service — and shows how Scuba, Ringpop, and Orleans do it.
Stop Writing Dead Programs
Jack Rusher·2022·Strange LoopJack Rusher argues that most of our languages are still, accidentally, designed around the punchcard — and shows what a living programming environment could look like instead.
Observability for Emerging Infra
Charity Majors·2017·Strange LoopWhy the metrics-and-logs playbook from the LAMP era falls apart the moment your system becomes a dynamic mesh of services you can't predict in advance.
Propositions as Types
Philip Wadler·2015·Strange LoopPhilip Wadler on the Curry–Howard correspondence — the deep, surprising equivalence between mathematical proofs and computer programs.
Simple Made Easy
Rich Hickey·2011·Strange LoopRich Hickey emphasizes simplicity's virtues, and argues that we conflate easy with simple — at a real cost.