Tomas Petricek's Publications

Searching for new ways of thinking in programming & working with data

I'm a visiting researcher at the Alan Turing Institute working on tools for data-driven storytelling. I also work closely with the F# team in Microsoft Research and I recently submitted my PhD thesis at University of Cambridge. If you read 3 of my papers, consider the following ones!

Type Providers

F# Data infers types from sample XML and JSON documents and safely embed them into F#. Our PLDI 2016 paper is an ACM SIGPLAN Research Highligt.

Coeffects

Coeffects are theory of context-aware programming languages developed in my PhD thesis. Check out our ICFP 2014 paper or my interactive essay.

Philosophy

How different communities approach errors? My paper on history and philosophy of errors published in ‹Programming› 2017 was selected as reviewers choice.

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Miscomputation in software Learning to live with errors

Tomas Petricek

The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, 2017

Computer programs do not always work as expected. In fact, ominous warnings about the desperate state of the software industry continue to be released with almost ritualistic regularity. In this paper, we look at the 60 years history of programming and at the different practical methods that software community developed to live with programming errors.

We do so by observing a class of students discussing different approaches to programming errors. While learning about the different methods for dealing with errors, we uncover basic assumptions that proponents of different paradigms follow. We learn about the mathematical attempt to eliminate errors through formal methods, scientific method based on testing, a way of building reliable systems through engineering methods, as well as an artistic approach to live coding that accepts errors as a creative inspiration.

This way, we can explore the differences and similarities among the different paradigms. By inviting proponents of different methods into a single discussion, we hope to open potential for new thinking about errors. When should we use which of the approaches? And what can software development learn from mathematics, science, engineering and art?

When programming or studying programming, we are often enclosed in small communities and we take our basic assumptions for granted. Through the discussion in this paper, we attempt to map the large and rich space of programming ideas and provide reference points for exploring, perhaps foreign, ideas that can challenge some of our assumptions.

Paper and more information

  • See the paper record in The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming journal.
  • Download local copy of the final version of the paper (PDF)
  • Talk slides from 2017. There are also longer slides from CodeMesh 2016 and old slides from HaPoC 2015.
  • If you are interested in the evolution of the paper, here is an early draft.

Watch the talk

I had the pleasure of presenting a talk based on the paper at CodeMesh 2016 in London, the Alternative Programming Conference focusing on promoting useful non-mainstream technologies to the software industry. You can watch the CodeMesh talk here (and attend next year for great talks)!

Bibtex

If you want to cite the paper, you can use the following BibTeX information.

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@article{failures,
  author  = {Petricek, Tomas}, 
  title   = {Miscomputation in software: Learning to live with errors},
  journal = {The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming},
  year    = {2017},
  number  = {2},
  volume  = {1}
}

If you have any comments, suggestions or related ideas, I'll be happy to hear from you! Send me an email at tomas@tomasp.net or get in touch via Twitter at @tomaspetricek.

Published: Monday, 3 April 2017, 12:00 AM
Author: Tomas Petricek
Typos: Send me pull request!

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  • Twitter: @tomaspetricek
  • GitHub: @tpetricek
  • Email me: tomas@tomasp.net

Blog archives

September 2017 (1),  June 2017 (1),  April 2017 (1),  March 2017 (2),  January 2017 (1),  October 2016 (1),  September 2016 (2),  August 2016 (1),  July 2016 (1),  May 2016 (2),  April 2016 (1),  December 2015 (2),  November 2015 (1),  September 2015 (3),  July 2015 (1),  June 2015 (1),  May 2015 (2),  April 2015 (3),  March 2015 (2),  February 2015 (1),  January 2015 (2),  December 2014 (1),  May 2014 (3),  April 2014 (2),  March 2014 (1),  January 2014 (2),  December 2013 (1),  November 2013 (1),  October 2013 (1),  September 2013 (1),  August 2013 (2),  May 2013 (1),  April 2013 (1),  March 2013 (1),  February 2013 (1),  January 2013 (1),  December 2012 (2),  October 2012 (1),  August 2012 (3),  June 2012 (2),  April 2012 (1),  March 2012 (4),  February 2012 (5),  January 2012 (2),  November 2011 (5),  August 2011 (3),  July 2011 (2),  June 2011 (2),  May 2011 (2),  March 2011 (4),  December 2010 (1),  November 2010 (6),  October 2010 (6),  September 2010 (4),  July 2010 (3),  June 2010 (2),  May 2010 (1),  February 2010 (2),  January 2010 (3),  December 2009 (3),  July 2009 (1),  June 2009 (3),  May 2009 (2),  April 2009 (1),  March 2009 (2),  February 2009 (1),  December 2008 (1),  November 2008 (5),  October 2008 (1),  September 2008 (1),  June 2008 (1),  March 2008 (3),  February 2008 (1),  December 2007 (2),  November 2007 (6),  October 2007 (1),  September 2007 (1),  August 2007 (1),  July 2007 (2),  April 2007 (2),  March 2007 (2),  February 2007 (3),  January 2007 (2),  November 2006 (1),  October 2006 (3),  August 2006 (2),  July 2006 (1),  June 2006 (3),  May 2006 (2),  April 2006 (2),  December 2005 (1),  July 2005 (4),  June 2005 (5),  May 2005 (1),  April 2005 (3),  March 2005 (3),  January 2005 (1),  December 2004 (3),  November 2004 (2), 

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