Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderAbsolutely my favorite tech talk—brilliant idea that's explained so well it seems obvious in hindsight, even though it really wasn't. It's rare for a single talk to change my fundamental way of thinking about an area I already care about (programming language design), and "Growing a Language" managed it in a big way. It applies to more than just language design too. Why do I love Emacs so much? It isn't the idiosyncratic terminology or weird keybindings, it's the fact…
If you've never seen this video you owe it to your self to watch it. It really I think captures the essence of systems thinking.
Classic HN indeed. Was fun when I first reached the reveal to go back and appreciate the work Guy put into it all.
Written version: https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 285
- Total comments
- 56
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-09-05 | Growing a Language (1998) [video]First breakout · Best thread | tosh | 167 | 34 |
| 2022-04-03 | Classic HN: Growing a Language (1998, Video) | ColinWright | 1 | 1 |
| 2023-07-04 | Guy Steele: Growing a Language (1998) [video]Latest 20+ point return | swatson741 | 111 | 20 |
| 2026-03-23 | Growing a Language (1998) [video] | tosh | 2 | 0 |
| 2026-04-27 | Classic HN: Growing a Language [video] | ColinWright | 4 | 1 |