<p>Felienne Hermans relates her journey in programming—writing <i>The Programmer's Brain</i>, uncovering biases within computing culture & herself, and building the multilingual, gradual-syntax programming language Hedy. We even dip into AI (trigger warning) and dumb phones.</p><p>Thanks to our sponsor, Logistically. Email: <a href="mailto:elmtown@logisticallyinc.com">elmtown@logisticallyinc.com</a>.</p><p>Music by Jesse Moore.<br />Edited by Toni Cañete.</p><p>Recording date: 2025.04.08</p><h1>Guest</h1><ul><li><a href="https://www.felienne.nl">Felienne Hermans</a></li></ul><h1>Show notes</h1><h2>[00:00:26] Sponsored by Logistically</h2><h2>[00:00:48] Introducing Felienne Hermans</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.hedy.org/">Hedy - Textual programming made easy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.manning.com/books/the-programmers-brain"><i>The Programmer's Brain</i></a> by Felienne Hermans</li><li><a href="https://youtu.be/g1ib43q3uXQ?si=j5uxMRbLLAhEU_I-">"How to teach programming (and other things)?"</a> at Strange Loop 2019</li><li><a href="https://www.felienne.com/archives/8470">"A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design"</a>, co-authored with Ari Schlesinger</li><li><a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-59-elm-camp-with-katja-mordaunt">Elm Town 59 – Elm Camp with Katja Mordaunt</a></li><li><a href="https://codereading.club">Code Reading Club</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-for-clarity-effectiveness-and-serenity_ryan-holiday_stephen-hanselman/11272329/">The Daily Stoic</a> by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman</li></ul><h2>[00:04:09] The costs of misconceptions</h2><ul><li><a href="https://asksciencemike.com/">Science Mike</a></li></ul><h2>[00:09:51] Journey to computer science</h2><h2>[00:14:33] Programming culture: challenges and creativity</h2><ul><li><a href="https://elm.town/episodes/making-little-games-like-presents">Elm Town 48 – Making Little Games Like Presents</a> with Martin Stewart</li><li><a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-64-the-network-effect">Elm Town 64 – The network effect</a> with Martin Stewart</li><li><a href="https://adventofcode.com/">Advent of Code</a></li></ul><h2>[00:21:36] Bias and building a multi-lingual programming language</h2><ul><li>Mark Guzdial's blog: <a href="https://computinged.wordpress.com/">Computing Ed Research - Guzdial's Take</a></li></ul><h2>[00:28:35] Hedy's gradual syntax</h2><ul><li><a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1853/72712"><i>Addressing Computing’s Discrimination Problem: A Framework for Anti-Discriminatory Computing</i></a> by Ari Schlesinger</li><li><a href="https://bellhooksbooks.com/product/the-will-to-change/"><i>The Will to Change</i></a> by bell hooks</li></ul><h2>[00:38:12] Programming language community, learning, and valuing hard things</h2><h2>[00:47:19] How language design choices affect cognitive load</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_4EX4dPppA">"The Hard Parts of Open Source"</a> by Evan Czaplicki at Strange Loop 2019</li><li><a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-58-unblocking-users-with-quality-software">Elm Town 58 – Unblocking users with quality software</a> with Tessa Kelly</li><li><a href="https://elm-radio.com/episode/add">Episode 68: Elm and ADD</a> with Dillon Kearns and Jeroen Engels</li></ul><h2>[00:56:22] History of women in computing</h2><ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220805124223id_/https:/thesis.library.caltech.edu/14990/1/myra_thesis.pdf">"Female Inventors and Narratives of Innovation in Late Twentieth-Century Computing"</a> by Myra Cheng</li><li><a href="https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/nensmeng/">Nathan Ensmenger</a></li></ul><h2>[01:03:40] Kotodama (言霊): What's in a name?</h2><ul><li><a href="https://feelingof.com/episodes/075/">Feeling of Computing 75 • A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design by Felienne Hermans</a></li></ul><h2>[01:08:49] Switching to a dumb phone</h2><h2>[01:16:48] AI</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/">"An Age of Hyperabundance"</a> by Laura Preston</li><li><a href="https://www.katieroiphe.com/in-praise-of-messy-lives-color/"><i>In Praise of Messy Lives</i></a> by Katie Roiphe</li></ul><h2>[01:30:10] Picks</h2><h3>Felienne's picks</h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/">"An Age of Hyperabundance"</a> by Laura Preston</li><li><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/death-glitch-how-techno-solutionism-fails-us-in-this-life-and-beyond-tamara-kneese/6f6a52edf0086e0d?ean=9780300248272&next=t"><i>Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond</i></a> by Tamara Kneese</li><li><a href="https://bookwyrm.social/book/1974873/s/crisis-of-narration"><i>Crisis of Narration</i></a> by Byung-Chul Han</li></ul><h3>Jared's pick</h3><ul><li><a href="https://bookwyrm.social/book/1139149/s/the-end-of-this-days-business"><i>The End of This Day's Business</i></a> by Katharine Burdekin</li></ul>


<description>&lt;p&gt;Felienne Hermans relates her journey in programming—writing &lt;i&gt;The Programmer's Brain&lt;/i&gt;, uncovering biases within computing culture &amp; herself, and building the multilingual, gradual-syntax programming language Hedy. We even dip into AI (trigger warning) and dumb phones.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thanks to our sponsor, Logistically. Email: &lt;a href="mailto:elmtown@logisticallyinc.com"&gt;elmtown@logisticallyinc.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Music by Jesse Moore.&lt;br /&gt;Edited by Toni Cañete.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recording date: 2025.04.08&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h1&gt;Guest&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.felienne.nl"&gt;Felienne Hermans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h1&gt;Show notes&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:00:26] Sponsored by Logistically&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:00:48] Introducing Felienne Hermans&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.hedy.org/"&gt;Hedy - Textual programming made easy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.manning.com/books/the-programmers-brain"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Programmer's Brain&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Felienne Hermans&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://youtu.be/g1ib43q3uXQ?si=j5uxMRbLLAhEU_I-"&gt;"How to teach programming (and other things)?"&lt;/a&gt; at Strange Loop 2019&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.felienne.com/archives/8470"&gt;"A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design"&lt;/a&gt;, co-authored with Ari Schlesinger&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-59-elm-camp-with-katja-mordaunt"&gt;Elm Town 59 – Elm Camp with Katja Mordaunt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://codereading.club"&gt;Code Reading Club&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-for-clarity-effectiveness-and-serenity_ryan-holiday_stephen-hanselman/11272329/"&gt;The Daily Stoic&lt;/a&gt; by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:04:09] The costs of misconceptions&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://asksciencemike.com/"&gt;Science Mike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:09:51] Journey to computer science&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:14:33] Programming culture: challenges and creativity&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://elm.town/episodes/making-little-games-like-presents"&gt;Elm Town 48 – Making Little Games Like Presents&lt;/a&gt; with Martin Stewart&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-64-the-network-effect"&gt;Elm Town 64 – The network effect&lt;/a&gt; with Martin Stewart&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://adventofcode.com/"&gt;Advent of Code&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:21:36] Bias and building a multi-lingual programming language&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mark Guzdial's blog: &lt;a href="https://computinged.wordpress.com/"&gt;Computing Ed Research - Guzdial's Take&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:28:35] Hedy's gradual syntax&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1853/72712"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Addressing Computing’s Discrimination Problem: A Framework for Anti-Discriminatory Computing&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Ari Schlesinger&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://bellhooksbooks.com/product/the-will-to-change/"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Will to Change&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by bell hooks&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:38:12] Programming language community, learning, and valuing hard things&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:47:19] How language design choices affect cognitive load&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_4EX4dPppA"&gt;"The Hard Parts of Open Source"&lt;/a&gt; by Evan Czaplicki at Strange Loop 2019&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://elm.town/episodes/elm-town-58-unblocking-users-with-quality-software"&gt;Elm Town 58 – Unblocking users with quality software&lt;/a&gt; with Tessa Kelly&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://elm-radio.com/episode/add"&gt;Episode 68: Elm and ADD&lt;/a&gt; with Dillon Kearns and Jeroen Engels&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[00:56:22] History of women in computing&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220805124223id_/https:/thesis.library.caltech.edu/14990/1/myra_thesis.pdf"&gt;"Female Inventors and Narratives of Innovation in Late Twentieth-Century Computing"&lt;/a&gt; by Myra Cheng&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/nensmeng/"&gt;Nathan Ensmenger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[01:03:40] Kotodama (言霊): What's in a name?&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://feelingof.com/episodes/075/"&gt;Feeling of Computing 75 • A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design by Felienne Hermans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[01:08:49] Switching to a dumb phone&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[01:16:48] AI&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/"&gt;"An Age of Hyperabundance"&lt;/a&gt; by Laura Preston&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.katieroiphe.com/in-praise-of-messy-lives-color/"&gt;&lt;i&gt;In Praise of Messy Lives&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Katie Roiphe&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h2&gt;[01:30:10] Picks&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Felienne's picks&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/"&gt;"An Age of Hyperabundance"&lt;/a&gt; by Laura Preston&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/death-glitch-how-techno-solutionism-fails-us-in-this-life-and-beyond-tamara-kneese/6f6a52edf0086e0d?ean=9780300248272&amp;next=t"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Tamara Kneese&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://bookwyrm.social/book/1974873/s/crisis-of-narration"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Crisis of Narration&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Byung-Chul Han&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Jared's pick&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://bookwyrm.social/book/1139149/s/the-end-of-this-days-business"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The End of This Day's Business&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Katharine Burdekin&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
</description>

Felienne Hermans relates her journey in programming—writing _The Programmer's Brain_, uncovering biases within computing culture & herself, and building the multilingual, gradual-syntax programming language Hedy. We even dip into AI (trigger warning) and dumb phones. 

Elm Town 88 – Wonder: Unconscious bias with Felienne Hermans

Description