Brian Kernighan on “The Practice of Programming” [video]

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Podcast format and reception

  • Many commenters praise the interview and the quality of the hosts’ questions.
  • The podcast’s niche—deep discussions of software books rather than weekly tech news—is seen as refreshing and substantive.
  • Several listeners discover the show through this episode and express intent to binge other episodes, describing it as “coworkers talking about a book over lunch,” with breadth-over-depth but still substantive.

Timelessness and impact of “The Practice of Programming”

  • Multiple commenters say the book’s lessons strongly influenced their day-to-day programming, even decades later.
  • Some examples are technically dated (e.g., older Java limitations), but the general principles are viewed as highly relevant.
  • The book is recommended as foundational, especially for beginners, emphasizing clarity, notation, little languages, and practical craft over heavy theory.

Technical interviews vs LeetCode

  • Several lament that modern interviews overemphasize LeetCode-style puzzles and wish they focused more on the book’s concepts.
  • Others report positive experiences at major companies where interviews center on realistic tasks (bug-hunting in real libraries, systems programming tasks, system design, and behavioral questions) rather than puzzle grinding.
  • Experiences differ by company and role; some still encounter graph-traversal questions.

Episode notes, media lists, and affiliate links

  • Listeners request that each episode’s description explicitly list all books and media mentioned to make follow-up easier.
  • The hosts are receptive and considering adding such lists, possibly with affiliate links.
  • Some raise privacy concerns about affiliate programs that can see all purchases in a time window; suggestions include offering both affiliate and direct links.

Related classic texts and learning philosophy

  • The thread surfaces a “canon” of concise classics: “The C Programming Language,” “The Unix Programming Environment,” “The Elements of Programming Style,” “Programming Pearls,” “Writing Efficient Programs,” “Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment,” “The Linux Programming Interface,” and various compiler expositions.
  • Commenters praise these older books for brevity, clarity, and dense insight compared to many modern verbose titles.
  • There is debate over whether C/Unix is truly the “bedrock” and “standard OS” versus just one important lineage; both views are argued.
  • Several stress balancing reading with actually writing code and warn against getting stuck in “theory trap.”

Language, tools, and historical anecdotes

  • Stories arise about early tools (RATFOR, Pascal, PL/0), early Unix tooling, and the evolution of structured programming (e.g., arguments against GOTO, arithmetic IF).
  • One thread discusses how constraints of early Pascal led to a famous critique paper, especially compared to RATFOR.
  • Go’s brace style and lexer behavior (automatic semicolon insertion) are briefly discussed, with mixed opinions on the forced formatting.

Perception of the interviewee

  • Commenters repeatedly highlight the interviewee’s humility, clarity of explanation, and responsiveness to email, viewing this combination of deep expertise and modesty as rare and admirable.