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Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Robert Lefkowitz, comes from the USA, from New York.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He worked many years in IT (information technology)
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he has worked in telecommunications in Wall Street
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a few other places he's worked in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At present he's the Chief Technical Officer and co-founder in Sharewave
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He's also writing a book that explores universal programming literacy and open source
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is the present interest in his talk and the main reason why he's here
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to share with us some of his knowledge and ideas
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about open source and universal programming literacy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Talking about this in particular helped him figure out a way to continue with his book
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so if anyone has ideas or suggestions you can contact him eventually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, let's welcome now Robert "ℝ∅ⅯⅬ" Lefkowitz with a warm round of applause
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[clapping]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thank you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm very excited to be here
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I apologize that I cannot speak in Spanish
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I was invited to speak, I did not have time to learn Spanish in time for this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a continuation or a reprise of a talk that I gave in PyCon in 2007 in the US
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I heard that some of you have heard this before. So, indulge me.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm from New York,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,New Yorkers have a reputation for being fast talkers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I'm trying to slow down.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if I get excited, which I may very well get excited, then I'll start speeding up and I'll be going much faster than I us...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then if somebody would... [waves his arms]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remind me that I should slow down then I would appreciate it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not a python... eh...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not a pythonista.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I assume that the reason that I was invited here, my contribution to the python community is that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when my son learned to program in school he learned to program in Java because they taught in Java...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I convinced him to learn Python instead.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then he went on to write Twisted. [clapping]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, Twisted is my first grandchild. [laughter]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But other than that, I have...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my interest, my involvement in Python is certainly nowhere near as much as my son's.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm interested in Rhetoric
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's why I'm speaking!
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my thesis is that...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rhetoric and Programming are the same thing
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or to put it another way, the...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the 21st century extension of the classical art of Rhetoric we call Programming
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's what I wanna talk about.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reason to talk about it, is that "if" programming is literacy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and literacy is programming,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then if we have 2000 years of history, or maybe more with literacy and literacy education
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so there might be something that we can learn
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for what we did right or what we did wrong
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But of course they might be different than literacy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we should understand those differences if we can, as well.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is not a new idea. This is not...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my idea.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a very popular idea in the 80s
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, one of the things...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I only have an hour and a half for this talk...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or two...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughter]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it would be not enough time to talk about everything that I was to talk about...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I'm in the habit of providing book references,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for people that are interested in particular topics.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I have many of my slides with book references.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don't have to copy them all down,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you email me I will surely send you the slides and the bibliography
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's curious, you will notice, that most of the books that I'm quoting here...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were written between 1984 and 1986 for some reason.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Donald Knuth gave a name to this thing that I'm talking about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was "Literate Programming".
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the way he phrased it was that Programming...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"A Programmer could be regarded as an essayist,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose main concern is with exposition and excellence of style."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he invented a system, which he called WEB.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the reason he called it WEB, actually is pretty funny.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was, he wrote:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"It was the only three letter word in the English language that I could find,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that wasn't used for something in computers."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So WEB was this system where if you wrote a program,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it would either run through a compiler,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or, it could be published as a paper in computer science.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the idea that the text was both a program and an essay.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was the WEB system.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Knuth wasn't the only one.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1985, Abelson and Sussman published their textbook on computer science, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the introduction he starts with:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"First we want to establish the idea that a computer language...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not just a way to get a computer to perform operations,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but rather that it is a novel medium for expressing ideas about methodology.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thus, programs must be written for people to read. And only incidentally for machines to execute."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So here we have both the East coast's and the West coast's of the United States professors, saying:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Nah, programs are the way people talk to each other about algorithms.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the computers have nothing to do with it."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was right about this time, in 1984 that Richard Stallman writes the GNU manifest.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does he say about that?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Well, you need access to the source, because it's a requisite for people to be able to read the software."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's all part of that same feeling that in the 80s we had this idea that...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,software was about people and not about machines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, this is a slide from a presentation Guido van Rossum gave in 1999,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which he was talking about his CP4E initiative. "Computer Programming for Everybody",
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which he was going to teach everybody how to program.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The CP4E project is dormant, according to Wikipedia.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, what happened?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the 1980s every book that you picked up about computer science...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talks about how it's all about people, it's not about machines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And today it's much more about machines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And a little bit about people.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I want to understand...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanna bring back actually to the CP4E idea.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That everybody can program.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because we teach everybody how to read!
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if it's about {\i1}reading{\i0}...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we should understand the history of literacy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I'm going to take a "small" 40 minute diversion to talk about the history of literacy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But because this is a programming crowd...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will then bring it back to programming and to talk about programming languages of the future,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,assuming that we have a sort of literate view of programming once again.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My favorite book on Rhetoric is written by Sister Miriam Joseph and the first edition was published in 1938.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Sister...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This book is about the Trivium, so...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the curriculum in the Middle Ages, they taught three things to everybody:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They taught Logic,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rhetoric being the most advanced of the three.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Since it was three things, it was called the Trivium,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this is where we get our english word "Trivial",
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which means "something anybody knows",
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because in the beginning, it was the university course of these three things, but...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,eventually they taught it to everybody, and the thing that everybody knew was Trivial.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here's the definition:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Logic is concerned with the thing as it is known.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Grammar with the thing as it is symbolized.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Rhetoric is concerned with the thing as it is communicated."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this was the sentence that made me think: "She's talking about programming!"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If rhetoric is the art of communicating through symbols ideas about reality,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how is that different than programming?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Programming is in fact communicating ideas about reality to machines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And other people.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, rhetoric is the Master Art. It is programming.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we talk to machines, we are using the rhetoric of the machine.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, this idea of language and literacy that I...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not only infuses the...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,programmers of the 80s, but the philosophers of the 60s and the 40s.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A famous collection of essays which is called "The Linguistic Turn", came out in 1967,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which had a group of essays from philosophers through the 30s and 40s.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my favorite out of those is Bertrand Russell.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is quoted to say:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that "by means of the study of syntax,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can come to a considerable knowledge concerning the structure of the world."
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which I think a programmer would appreciate.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, if rhetoric (or programming) is communicating ideas about reality to people and machines,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we have a bit of a duality.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the literacy part is communicating ideas to people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Engineering part is communicating ideas to machines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that may be different.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That may be why we isolate back and forth between...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking of programming as something we do between people,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thinking of programming as sort of a mechanical art that we use to make machines...
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do the things that we want them to do.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's because when you write a program you are talking to two classes of beings.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So in 1986 in a study of literacy, Havelock discovers a general pattern of literacy,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which she writes about.