Joe Cutler
@alphaconvert.bsky.social
CS PhD student at Penn and NSF GRFP fellow. Types, Programming Languages, and Distance Running.
I have also experienced this. When it works well (not always), Claude code can free me up to think mostly about the bits of the work I'm interested in.
i’m less concerned about this now. i experienced deep flow vibecoding yesterday. in some ways it was actually deeper than manual coding because (when it worked well) i was able to explore ideas and directions that would normally take me days (due to lack of domain knowledge, boilerplate etc)
the thing i'm worried about is whether AI will decimate the "flow states" of knowledge work. i realize this is very selfish. i enjoy being in a flow state. i don't want to constantly be babysitting an unlearning intern who repeatedly violates instructions. even if they eventually produce good work
October 7, 2025 at 12:14 AM
I have also experienced this. When it works well (not always), Claude code can free me up to think mostly about the bits of the work I'm interested in.
I will also be at ICFP/SPLASH in Singapore! Similarly excited to see everyone (especially Harry)
I'll be at ICFP/SPLASH in Singapore, starting in a little over a week! Really looking forward to seeing everyone.
October 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM
I will also be at ICFP/SPLASH in Singapore! Similarly excited to see everyone (especially Harry)
I'm very excited about this new movie from Kathryn Bigelow. More great movies about how terrifying nukes are can only be a good thing. Side-bonus: I expect more WIRED videos featuring @wellerstein.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | Official Trailer | Netflix
YouTube video by Netflix
www.youtube.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I'm very excited about this new movie from Kathryn Bigelow. More great movies about how terrifying nukes are can only be a good thing. Side-bonus: I expect more WIRED videos featuring @wellerstein.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...
Reposted by Joe Cutler
Have you been considering hosting a local PL meetup? Need a good place to start? Check out the PL Perspectives post that I wrote with Michael Greenberg and Noam Zilberstein!
blog.sigplan.org/2025/09/16/think-globally-discuss-pl-locally/
blog.sigplan.org/2025/09/16/think-globally-discuss-pl-locally/
Think Globally, Discuss PL Locally
In-person meetings are hugely beneficial for academic research; they provide a venue to collaborate and connect, making our community more connected and facilitating the exchange of ideas. In addit…
blog.sigplan.org
September 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Have you been considering hosting a local PL meetup? Need a good place to start? Check out the PL Perspectives post that I wrote with Michael Greenberg and Noam Zilberstein!
blog.sigplan.org/2025/09/16/think-globally-discuss-pl-locally/
blog.sigplan.org/2025/09/16/think-globally-discuss-pl-locally/
Reposted by Joe Cutler
Upstate NY folks: Cornell will be hosting Upstate PL (www.cs.cornell.edu/upstate-pl/) on Thursday, August 28th. You should come if you're in the area!
Talk proposals are due August 4th, registration closes August 18th.
Talk proposals are due August 4th, registration closes August 18th.
Upstate PL August 2025
www.cs.cornell.edu
July 10, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Upstate NY folks: Cornell will be hosting Upstate PL (www.cs.cornell.edu/upstate-pl/) on Thursday, August 28th. You should come if you're in the area!
Talk proposals are due August 4th, registration closes August 18th.
Talk proposals are due August 4th, registration closes August 18th.
Reposted by Joe Cutler
Some more exciting news! This year we had not one, but two(!) dissertations receiving the SIGPLAN John C. Reynolds Doctoral Dissertation Award at PLDI!
The awardees are: Harrison Goldstein from the University of Pennsylvania and Rachit Nigam from Cornell University. More info ⬇️
The awardees are: Harrison Goldstein from the University of Pennsylvania and Rachit Nigam from Cornell University. More info ⬇️
June 28, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Some more exciting news! This year we had not one, but two(!) dissertations receiving the SIGPLAN John C. Reynolds Doctoral Dissertation Award at PLDI!
The awardees are: Harrison Goldstein from the University of Pennsylvania and Rachit Nigam from Cornell University. More info ⬇️
The awardees are: Harrison Goldstein from the University of Pennsylvania and Rachit Nigam from Cornell University. More info ⬇️
Reality has a well-known liberal bias
A big AI question is why, as LLMs get bigger, their values seem to increasingly converge on the same preferences, this holds for Musk’s Grok & China’s DeepSeek, too.
“These findings suggest that value systems emerge in LLMs in a meaningful sense, with broad implications” arxiv.org/abs/2502.08640
“These findings suggest that value systems emerge in LLMs in a meaningful sense, with broad implications” arxiv.org/abs/2502.08640
June 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reality has a well-known liberal bias
Headed to NYC for the summer! If you're in town and want to hang out, let me know!
May 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Headed to NYC for the summer! If you're in town and want to hang out, let me know!
Going to New York on Saturday morning. Tomorrow will be spent feverishly packing and being a little ball of excitement
May 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Going to New York on Saturday morning. Tomorrow will be spent feverishly packing and being a little ball of excitement
Passed my proposal defense! Now a PhD candidate, I guess.
May 22, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Passed my proposal defense! Now a PhD candidate, I guess.
Reposted by Joe Cutler
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
A must read
May 18, 2025 at 9:20 AM
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
Wow, they made Cheyenne Mountain from the hit 1983 thriller WarGames starting Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick into a real place!
May 16, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Wow, they made Cheyenne Mountain from the hit 1983 thriller WarGames starting Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick into a real place!
Reposted by Joe Cutler
It’s genuinely embarrassing that people keep falling for these “AI explains the hidden secrets of its programming” posts. Grok is not sentient, it cannot explain what it’s doing and why.
An X USER, to Grok: “Why are you launching into conversations about white genocide, unprompted?” 🤡
May 15, 2025 at 11:16 AM
It’s genuinely embarrassing that people keep falling for these “AI explains the hidden secrets of its programming” posts. Grok is not sentient, it cannot explain what it’s doing and why.
On the way back to Philly after an exhausting week in NYC.
One week at home, then to Colorado for my brother’s college graduation. Then back to Philly to propose my thesis, then to NYC for the summer!
One week at home, then to Colorado for my brother’s college graduation. Then back to Philly to propose my thesis, then to NYC for the summer!
May 10, 2025 at 12:40 AM
On the way back to Philly after an exhausting week in NYC.
One week at home, then to Colorado for my brother’s college graduation. Then back to Philly to propose my thesis, then to NYC for the summer!
One week at home, then to Colorado for my brother’s college graduation. Then back to Philly to propose my thesis, then to NYC for the summer!
Reposted by Joe Cutler
If you are considering applying for a PhD this Fall, please get in touch. I’m looking for students who are interested in PL, SE, and/or HCI — and ideally all three! You can find more information about me and my work on my website: harrisongoldste.in
Harrison Goldstein
harrisongoldste.in
May 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
If you are considering applying for a PhD this Fall, please get in touch. I’m looking for students who are interested in PL, SE, and/or HCI — and ideally all three! You can find more information about me and my work on my website: harrisongoldste.in
Reposted by Joe Cutler
I'm incredibly excited to announce that I've accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo!
The PL/SE group at UB is already really impressive, and I am honored to be part of its continued growth
The PL/SE group at UB is already really impressive, and I am honored to be part of its continued growth
May 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I'm incredibly excited to announce that I've accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo!
The PL/SE group at UB is already really impressive, and I am honored to be part of its continued growth
The PL/SE group at UB is already really impressive, and I am honored to be part of its continued growth
Ok, I put up this little library SubSlice for per-index refcounted access to a slice on Github. Maybe it'll be useful for someone someday, who knows.
github.com/alpha-conver...
github.com/alpha-conver...
GitHub - alpha-convert/SubSlice: A little Rust library for giving ref-counted access to disjoint sub-slices of a slice
A little Rust library for giving ref-counted access to disjoint sub-slices of a slice - alpha-convert/SubSlice
github.com
April 29, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Ok, I put up this little library SubSlice for per-index refcounted access to a slice on Github. Maybe it'll be useful for someone someday, who knows.
github.com/alpha-conver...
github.com/alpha-conver...
Rust-knowers. Is there a good way of getting RefCell-like refcounted access to disjoint slices of an array? Essentially, this, but with a (presumably) less dumb implementation of the reference counting structure.
gist.github.com/alpha-conver...
gist.github.com/alpha-conver...
subslice.rs
GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
gist.github.com
April 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Rust-knowers. Is there a good way of getting RefCell-like refcounted access to disjoint slices of an array? Essentially, this, but with a (presumably) less dumb implementation of the reference counting structure.
gist.github.com/alpha-conver...
gist.github.com/alpha-conver...
Reposted by Joe Cutler
Academic labs train people up from scratch while doing research. And then when a researcher is at their most productive, we kick them out and start over from scratch.
Federal government grants cover the costs of most PhD student training. It a public good that makes US companies ultra-competitive…
Federal government grants cover the costs of most PhD student training. It a public good that makes US companies ultra-competitive…
April 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Academic labs train people up from scratch while doing research. And then when a researcher is at their most productive, we kick them out and start over from scratch.
Federal government grants cover the costs of most PhD student training. It a public good that makes US companies ultra-competitive…
Federal government grants cover the costs of most PhD student training. It a public good that makes US companies ultra-competitive…
Honored to be honorably mentioned for the Jane Street Grad Fellowship! PL is well-represented on this list :)
www.janestreet.com/join-jane-st...
www.janestreet.com/join-jane-st...
Graduate Research Fellowship Profiles :: Jane Street
Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider with a unique focus on technology and collaborative problem solving.
www.janestreet.com
April 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Honored to be honorably mentioned for the Jane Street Grad Fellowship! PL is well-represented on this list :)
www.janestreet.com/join-jane-st...
www.janestreet.com/join-jane-st...
Reposted by Joe Cutler
ALL TRUMP HAS TO DO IS SNAP HIS FINGERS
I wrote about what we could go back to if Trump just snapped his fingers right now.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter right here: www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
I wrote about what we could go back to if Trump just snapped his fingers right now.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter right here: www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
April 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
ALL TRUMP HAS TO DO IS SNAP HIS FINGERS
I wrote about what we could go back to if Trump just snapped his fingers right now.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter right here: www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
I wrote about what we could go back to if Trump just snapped his fingers right now.
Sub to the Odd Lots newsletter right here: www.bloomberg.com/account/news...
Been spending a lot of time recently playing around in Rust. I've found @jonhoo.eu's book absolutely invaluable.
It may as well be titled "Rust for PL People"
It may as well be titled "Rust for PL People"
April 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Been spending a lot of time recently playing around in Rust. I've found @jonhoo.eu's book absolutely invaluable.
It may as well be titled "Rust for PL People"
It may as well be titled "Rust for PL People"
I recently got a paper subscription to WIRED, after being really impressed by some of their reporting on DOGE.
I last had a WIRED subscription when I was ~13. Back then it was almost entirely about consumer electronics and gadgetry. Now every article is about software.
I last had a WIRED subscription when I was ~13. Back then it was almost entirely about consumer electronics and gadgetry. Now every article is about software.
April 1, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I recently got a paper subscription to WIRED, after being really impressed by some of their reporting on DOGE.
I last had a WIRED subscription when I was ~13. Back then it was almost entirely about consumer electronics and gadgetry. Now every article is about software.
I last had a WIRED subscription when I was ~13. Back then it was almost entirely about consumer electronics and gadgetry. Now every article is about software.
Been watching The Pitt recently on HBO. Really exceptional for a medical drama.
April 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Been watching The Pitt recently on HBO. Really exceptional for a medical drama.
Say I have an ML-like language.
If I want to be able to monomorphize, what do I need to rule out? Certainly polymorphic recursion, but what else?
If I want to be able to monomorphize, what do I need to rule out? Certainly polymorphic recursion, but what else?
March 30, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Say I have an ML-like language.
If I want to be able to monomorphize, what do I need to rule out? Certainly polymorphic recursion, but what else?
If I want to be able to monomorphize, what do I need to rule out? Certainly polymorphic recursion, but what else?