Today marks Mike Hicks’s last day as co-editor of PL Perspectives, and Adrian Sampson’s first day in that role.
From Mike:
It’s been a joy to edit PL Perspectives for the last two years. I love learning new things, and I value how clear, crisp writing helps learning happen. Through editing the blog, I’ve gotten a substantial taste of the vast breadth of topics and activities that fall under the umbrella of “PL.” Through the editing process, I’ve gotten to know and work with many of the talented, diverse people carrying them out. Thanks to them for the time and care they took to share their work on the blog. It’s been an inspiration.
I remain convinced that the PL perspective, and the mathematical and implementation tools and techniques that underpin it, is an impact multiplier for just about any kind of CS research. I expect that this blog, in the very capable hands of co-editors Todd Millstein and Adrian Sampson, will continue to make this point plain by showcasing what PL is, and can be. Thanks to them and to all future authors—I look forward to reading about what you are up to!
From Adrian:
I’m super excited to help edit PL Perspectives! As a reader since the beginning, I have appreciated the way the blog gives a broad perspective on our very broad field, covering topics from HCI to quantum computing. I think there’s an enormous opportunity here for writing outside of “paper mode”: blog posts can bring programming languages research ideas to whole categories of people whom it wouldn’t otherwise reach.
By way of introduction, I’m an assistant professor at Cornell. I like programming languages, of course, but also computer architecture—so I do a lot of PL-inspired architecture research and hardware-inspired languages research. That means I’m particularly interested in how PL Perspectives can cover PL’s myriad connections to other areas in CS.
Many thanks to Mike for executing on an ambitious initial vision for the blog and for two years of service editing it through its first 90 posts. I’m looking forward to hundreds more—tell all your friends to send your ideas to Todd and me.
Bios:
Michael Hicks is a Professor at the University of Maryland, where he co-leads PLUM and is a member of MC2. He was Chair of SIGPLAN from 2015-2018 (and Past Chair from 2018-2021). He launched PL Perspectives in June of 2019.
Adrian Sampson is an Assistant Professor at Cornell University. He is the current Information Director of SIGPLAN.
Disclaimer: These posts are written by individual contributors to share their thoughts on the SIGPLAN blog for the benefit of the community. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal, belong solely to the blog author and do not represent those of ACM SIGPLAN or its parent organization, ACM.
