"Stop Writing Dead Programs" by Jack Rusher (Strange Loop 2022)
Provides stop Writing Dead Programs by Jack Rusher (Strange Loop 2022) and evaluates key implications for security practitioners.
Summary
Thesis
Jack Rusher's Strange Loop talk Stop Writing Dead Programs revives Seymour Papert's critique that computing education—and much of industry—still perpetuates irrational, historically inherited practices.
Punch-card era
Rusher recounts Fortran on punch cards, VAX batch jobs, 45-minute feedback loops, and terminal fear of dropped decks—hard in dumb ways unrelated to the actual problem, rewarding a priesthood with strong working memory.
Modern parallels
Today's long compile cycles, Docker/CI deploy waits, and cloud batch pipelines echo the same slow feedback; Docker exists partly because underlying stacks are overly complex.
Wrong mental model
Compile-run separation, linear single-threaded execution, and input-output-transformer programs poorly fit long-lived servers (1000-day uptimes) and rich GUI/event-driven systems we actually build.
Call to action
Mastering pointlessly hard workflows breeds pride in preserving them; Rusher urges abandoning dead program thinking for interactive, pragmatic development environments.
Related talks
BSides Augusta·42 min
Alberto Rodriguez · Erik Hunstad
Provides alberto Rodriguez, and Erik Hunstad - Stop writing malware! The Blue team has done it for you and evaluates key implications for security practitioners.
Strange Loop·50 min
Presents expert Software Developers Approach to Error by Marian Petre (Strange Loop 2022) and evaluates key implications for security practitioners.
Strange Loop·1 hr 16 min
Provides the Early Days of id Software: Programming Principles by John Romero (Strange Loop 2022) and evaluates key implications for security practitioners.