Seven More Languages in Seven Weeks

Introduction

by Bruce Tate

In a warm room in 2012 London, I was nervous. I’d given this same talk to crowded rooms around the world. Sure, I was confident that the crowd would laugh at my usual jokes, and even applaud almost on demand, but this time, there was a catch. Four creators of the seven languages in my book were in the audience right in front of me. I was worried about having enough credibility to talk about these beautiful creations in this setting. In the end, I may have stumbled a time or two, but the talk went fine. Joe Armstrong, the creator of Erlang and a dear friend now, even complimented me on the talk, and he invited me to come keynote the Erlang Users Community in Stockholm six months later.

The most poignant moment for ...