Joe Armstrong died today. I was really shocked by this news. It is not only because Joe was one of the inventors of Erlang. But also because Joe was always thinking about how to make computers and programs more efficient. More efficient in an economical and ecological way.
Joe Armstrong was a physicist and perhaps that’s why I’m always fascinated by his thoughts. Computers are physical machines and therefore obey natural laws. Absolute time, for example, as assumed by many computer scientists, does not exist. Communication can work, but it doesn’t have to – not only for people, but also for machines. Too many physical influences can interfere with the transmission of information in the real world.
Thank you Joe for all your interesting questions and for the solutions that brought us one small step further.
PS: If you don’t know what I’m talking about, perhaps you should give this video a chance: “The Mess We’re In”.