Creator of Scala: Comparing Languages And How AI Will Impact Them | Martin Odersky

Martin Odersky is the creator of Scala and I interviewed him to compare different languages designs (Rust vs Zig vs Python vs Scala) and how AI will impact programming languages.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/LdN4sPWM-WY• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/creator-of-scala-comparing-languages?r=n49kyThank you to this episode's sponsors for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/• Jira by Atlassian: Get more work done with your favorite agents and models all in one place, check them out at https://jira.dev/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:44) Why care about functional programming(06:35) Why should people learn Scala(09:26) Rust vs Scala(12:42) Rust vs Zig(15:45) Scala vs Python(18:31) The programming languages that influenced him(22:16) How running on the JVM works(26:33) Why writing a compiler is hard(29:19) Why Twitter adopted Scala early on(31:00) How he believes AI will impact programming languages(43:40) Will there be less engineers in ten years(44:34) Top programming languages to learn to grow(46:18) Top technical book recommendation(46:51) Why he chose academia instead of industry(48:28) Reflecting on Scala(55:42) Advice for his younger self(56:33) OutroWhere to find Martin:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Odersky• Website: https://people.epfl.ch/martin.odersky• X/Twitter: https://x.com/odersky• GitHub: https://github.com/oderskyWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: https://web.mit.edu/6.001/6.037/sicp.pdf• A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages (book): http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html