Leandro Facchinetti Drops Racket and PhD Over Leadership Toxicity

Leandro Facchinetti

Bespoke domain-specific languages isolate software projects into single-maintainer silos, while intellectual cruelty among Racket leaders drove contributor Leandro Facchinetti to quit academia entirely.

AI-assisted summary of Racket: Why I Think It’s a Great Language, and Why I’m Not Using It Anymore — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2021-01-03

Key ideas

Leandro Facchinetti discontinued his extensive use of Racket despite considering it perhaps the best-designed programming language he has ever encountered. (0:00)
Facchinetti argues that language-oriented programming isolates software projects by creating niche domain-specific languages rather than leveraging familiar host ecosystems like JavaScript, Ruby, or Lua. (4:26)
Toxic behaviors and interpersonal friction among senior academic leaders in the Racket ecosystem directly influenced Facchinetti's decision to drop out of his PhD program and leave the community. (6:26)

Detailed notes

## Background Published on YouTube by Leandro Facchinetti on January 3, 2021, this video reflects on his years of deep involvement with the Racket programming language. The description provides timestamps alongside links to related technical talks, his open-source Racket packages, academic projects, and relevant community literature.

## TL;DR Former PhD student Leandro Facchinetti explains why he stopped using Racket despite considering it the best-designed programming language he has ever encountered. While he deeply praises its S-expression syntax, unmatched macro system, robust documentation, and creative versatility, he ultimately rejected its core philosophy of language-oriented programming, arguing that bespoke domain-specific languages isolate collaborators and undermine human-to-human communication. Furthermore, alienating and toxic behavior from senior leadership figures in the Racket and academic communities soured his involvement and contributed to his decision to leave academia altogether. Though he no longer uses it for real-world projects, he still endorses Racket as an intellectually enriching exercise for programmers.

## Atmosphere & style The presentation is candid, measured, and conversational, adopting an informal vlog-style format that stands apart from standard technical walkthroughs. Leandro speaks with thoughtful introspection, balancing genuine reverence for the language's intellectual elegance with an undercurrent of sobering disillusionment. The emotional arc moves from nostalgic technical appreciation to uncomfortable vulnerability as he recounts abrasive encounters with academic leaders, giving the video a bittersweet, reflective weight.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=0s) Leandro Facchinetti discontinued his extensive use of Racket despite considering it perhaps the best-designed programming language he has ever encountered. - [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) Facchinetti argues that language-oriented programming isolates software projects by creating niche domain-specific languages rather than leveraging familiar host ecosystems like JavaScript, Ruby, or Lua. - [06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=386s) Toxic behaviors and interpersonal friction among senior academic leaders in the Racket ecosystem directly influenced Facchinetti's decision to drop out of his PhD program and leave the community.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=0s) Racket offers unmatched precision, compactness, and clarity for expressing computational ideas, underpinned by unambiguous S-expression syntax. - [00:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=56s) Facchinetti built significant tools in Racket, including pollen-component, css-expr, a cryptographic DSL, and foundational program analysis research. - [02:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=153s) Racket features a world-class compile-time macro system, exceptional documentation, and strong performance boosted by modern virtual machines like Chez Scheme. - [02:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=153s) Typed Racket served as an influential research precursor to modern gradual typing systems in mainstream languages, such as TypeScript. - [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) Source code exists primarily to communicate computational intent to other humans, making hyper-customized domain languages a communication barrier. - [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) For non-programmers, graphical interfaces and spreadsheets serve domain specialists far better than custom text-based domain-specific languages. - [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) Embedded DSLs in mainstream languages benefit from established developer mindshare, debugging tools, and linters, whereas Racket DSLs remain isolated. - [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) Creating bespoke languages in Racket frequently leads to projects maintained by a single person due to high barrier to entry. - [06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=386s) Abrasive and condescending behavior from senior Racket creators and lab leaders alienated collaborators and instilled anxiety in graduate students. - [06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=386s) Experiencing the toxic academic environment led Facchinetti to abandon his PhD and seek success outside of academia. - [06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=386s) Despite leaving the ecosystem, Facchinetti still recommends Racket as an intellectual exercise to expand a developer's understanding of programming paradigms.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=0s) Introduction and High-Level Thesis

Leandro Facchinetti introduces his perspective on Racket, opening with an upfront summary to temper what he admits is a clickbait title. For several years, he used Racket almost exclusively, coming away with immense admiration for its architecture. As Leandro puts it, “I used to use Racket almost exclusively for a couple of years a few years ago and I think it’s a great language, probably the best designed language I have ever seen.” In his view, Racket gives developers the rare ability to articulate computational thoughts with unmatched precision, compactness, and clarity.

Despite that technical excellence, Leandro stopped using the language entirely. The shift stems from two fundamental issues: he has fallen out of love with the core philosophy of "language-oriented programming," and he encountered deeply disheartening interpersonal behavior among those in leadership positions. He feels the language diverges so drastically from mainstream software engineering norms that it isolates its users from other programmers, creating barriers rather than bridges. Furthermore, negative encounters with senior figures who shape both the language and the academic community surrounding it soured his desire to stay involved.

---

[00:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=56s) Leandro’s Backstory with Racket and What He Built

Leandro discovered Racket during his time as a PhD student. At the time, he harbored a keen interest in typography, prompting a fellow PhD colleague to recommend Matthew Butterick’s online book *Practical Typography*. Leandro fell in love with the book not just for its subject matter and prose, but for the engineering underlying it: Butterick built the book using Pollen, a publishing-oriented programming system created in Racket. This discovery sparked years of deep technical immersion, during which Leandro created and maintained multiple tools within the ecosystem:

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Leandro Facchinetti's Racket Projects accDescr: Evolution of projects Leandro developed in Racket from web tools to PhD research.

subgraph Publishing ["Web & Publishing Ecosystem"] Pollen["Pollen System"] --> Comp["pollen-component (React-style components)"] Pollen --> CSS["css-expr (S-expression CSS preprocessor)"] end

subgraph Academic ["Academic & Core Contributions"] SDL["SDL (DSL for Cryptography)"] Yocto["yocto-cfa (Program Analysis)"] Core["Contributions to Racket Core & Packages"] end ```

His work stretched across web publishing and deep academic computer science. He authored `pollen-component`, which ported component-driven UI architecture reminiscent of React into the Pollen document ecosystem, as well as `css-expr`, an S-expression-based CSS preprocessor akin to Sass or Less. For his PhD qualifying project, Leandro built a domain-specific language tailored for cryptographers to mathematically formalize cryptographic schemes. Beyond creating packages and submitting upstream contributions to Racket and Pollen, he authored the preliminary work for what would have become his doctoral dissertation—a program analysis tool entrenched in advanced programming language theory—right before making the decision to leave graduate school.

---

[02:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=153s) Why Racket Is a Great Language

Leandro highlights Racket’s technical elegance, starting with its reliance on S-expressions. While acknowledging that Lisp-style syntax is divisive and frequently criticized, Leandro argues that it offers an unambiguous, clean substrate that becomes remarkably natural and rapid to read once mastered. Paired with this syntax is Racket’s world-class macro system, which lets developers rewrite programs during compilation steps with unparalleled expressive power. The ecosystem itself is robust: the runtime is consistently fast—accelerating further through efforts to re-base the core engine onto modern virtual machines such as Chez Scheme—and the documentation sets a gold standard for clarity, having been written and maintained by professional writers and educators.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Strengths of the Racket Platform accDescr: The key technical pillars that make Racket a compelling language.

subgraph SyntaxCore ["Language Design"] SExpr["S-Expressions (Unambiguous syntax)"] Macros["Macro System (Compile-time rewrites)"] end

subgraph ToolingEcosystem ["Support & Research"] Docs["High-Quality Docs & Beautiful Racket"] Typed["Typed Racket (Inspiration for TypeScript)"] Chez["Modern Backend Updates (Chez Scheme VM)"] end

SyntaxCore --> LOP["Language-Oriented Programming"] ToolingEcosystem --> LOP ```

As a programming languages student, Leandro was captivated by the research innovations incubated within Racket. Most notably, Typed Racket demonstrated how gradual typing could work in practice, ultimately serving as an inspiration for mainstream projects like TypeScript. Racket also supports unexpected creative applications, spanning GUI building, web backends, typesetting, generative art, and programmatic video editing. Tying all these strengths together is the grand ambition of language-oriented programming: instead of shoehorning problems into a general-purpose language, developers build custom languages tailored to specific problem domains to communicate directly with domain experts.

- **Foundational Literature:** Leandro considers Matthew Butterick's *Beautiful Racket* to be one of his favorite programming books of all time. - **Community Channels:** The official Racket mailing list provided rapid, exceptionally high-quality support from experienced language implementers. - **Expressive Macros:** Leandro cautions that while macros provide immense power, “they allow you to rewrite the program in the compilation steps which is super powerful, but at the same time can lead to code that no one else can read or maintain.”

---

[04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) The Limits of Language-Oriented Programming

Leandro’s departure from Racket began with a conceptual rejection of language-oriented programming. He roots his critique in the core ethos of software development: source code must communicate intent to other humans first, and to the computer second. Framing code as an art piece meant to be hung on a wall misses the point of software engineering; code exists so that peers can read, maintain, and expand it. When an engineer invents an entirely bespoke programming language for a problem domain, they inadvertently sever that communication line by requiring users to learn a whole new syntax and mental model.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Language-Oriented Programming vs Pragmatic Communication accDescr: Comparing the Racket isolated DSL approach to mainstream embedded alternatives.

subgraph RacketApproach ["Language-Oriented Programming in Racket"] RacketCore["Racket Host"] --> CustomDSL["Bespoke DSL"] CustomDSL --> SmallAudience["Tiny, Isolated Userbase Single Maintainer"] end

subgraph MainstreamApproach ["Pragmatic Embedded Alternatives"] HostLang["Mainstream Host (JS, Lua, Ruby)"] --> EDSL["Embedded DSL"] EDSL --> FamiliarTools["Pre-existing Tooling Broader Community Adoption"] end ```

If the objective is to communicate with non-programmer domain specialists—such as mathematicians or cryptographers—Leandro argues that GUIs, spreadsheets, and visual interfaces are far more effective than custom text-based languages. If code is strictly necessary, an embedded domain-specific language (EDSL) hosted inside an established language like JavaScript, Lua, or Ruby is vastly superior. In those environments, programmers already understand the base syntax, know the standard library conventions, and have mature linters and debuggers. Creating a DSL inside Racket carves a microscopic bubble inside an already small niche, demanding that collaborators accept a massive, alien ecosystem. As Leandro points out, this explains why so many Racket open-source projects end up maintained by only a single person.

- **Primary Role of Code:** “Let us all agree that programs should communicate ideas about what the computer should do to other people first, and the machine second.” - **The Pitfall of Isolation:** By deploying a DSL in Racket, developers force potential contributors to fully buy into an obscure platform rather than leveraging languages where thousands of contributors are readily accessible.

---

[06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=386s) Cultural Friction and Toxicity at the Top

Beyond theoretical disagreements, Leandro experienced abrasive behavior from people in the upper echelons of the Racket hierarchy—the individuals who build the language, direct research labs, and define the culture. He describes leaders who were undeniably brilliant, yet compelled to display their intellectual superiority at others' expense. At a Racket conference dinner, one of the language’s creators used a conversation about higher education being a scam in the United States as an excuse to cross-examine their waiter with uncomfortable, cringe-inducing questions, putting the entire table on edge while the waiter politely endured it.

On another occasion, a language co-creator insulted Leandro's academic circle directly, dismissing an esteemed collaborator as a "doofus" and referring to educators at Leandro’s institution, Johns Hopkins University, as "a bunch of donkeys." Leandro noticed that graduate students working under these leaders lived in persistent anxiety and fear of their own advisors. Witnessing this toxic environment convinced Leandro to leave academia and abandon his PhD altogether. While he encountered deeply generous and kind contributors like Matthew Butterick and Jay McCarthy, the negative behavior at the top ultimately drove him away:

> “Spending time with these people is one of the reasons why I decided to drop out of the PhD and leave academia altogether, because if that's how it looks like to be successful in these communities, I think I prefer to try to be successful somewhere else.”

Despite choosing not to use Racket moving forward, Leandro still recommends the language as an intellectual exercise for anyone wishing to expand their understanding of programming paradigms. He encourages viewers interested in the human side of the ecosystem to read *Language-Oriented Programming in Racket: A Cultural Anthropology*, an interview-based book that explores the community's history and includes interviews with several community figures, including Leandro himself.

[08:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=507s) Conclusion and Wrap-Up

Wrapping up the discussion, Leandro points viewers to the video description for links to the referenced material, articles, and projects. He reflects that stepping in front of the camera for a personal, informal video essay is a bit out of the ordinary for his channel, but he felt it was important to talk through his journey with the language. As he puts it: “This is atypical for me doing this kind of vlog thing, but I wanted to share this experience because I think Racket is an interesting language, and I had some good and bad experiences that I wanted to share.” After sharing his balanced perspective on both the strengths that initially drew him to Racket and the friction points that ultimately led him away, he thanks the audience for watching and signs off until the next video.

## Notable quotes > [04:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=266s) Let us all agree that programs should communicate ideas about what the computer should do to other people first, and the machine second. — Leandro Facchinetti

> [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c&t=0s) I used to use Racket almost exclusively for a couple of years a few years ago and I think it’s a great language, probably the best designed language I have ever seen. — Leandro Facchinetti

## Mentioned Beautiful Racket, Chez Scheme, Jay McCarthy, Johns Hopkins University, Language-Oriented Programming in Racket: A Cultural Anthropology, Leandro Facchinetti, Matthew Butterick, PLT Redex, Pollen, Practical Typography, Racket, React, TypeScript, Typed Racket, css-expr, pollen-component, yocto-cfa

## Video description Related videos: Playing the Game with PLT Redex: https://youtu.be/NszLQNROdw0 Understanding the Type of call/cc: https://youtu.be/7Zkt_IJaYOY

———

References: https://practicaltypography.com https://github.com/leafac/leafac.com/tree/pollen-component https://github.com/leafac/pollen-component https://github.com/leafac/css-expr https://leafac.com/curriculum-vitae/sdl--a-dsl-for-cryptographic-schemes.pdf https://github.com/leafac/yocto-cfa/tree/2019/old https://beautifulracket.com https://lisp.sh/lop-anthropology-now-available/

———

00:00 - Introduction 00:56 - Backstory 02:33 - Why I think it’s a great language 04:26 - Why I’m not using it anymore 08:00 - Conclusion

[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY7FBtr7_c)

中文简报

因领导层不良氛围，Leandro Facchinetti放弃Racket并退学博士定制的领域特定语言使软件项目沦为单一维护者的孤岛，而Racket领导层内部的智识残酷对待更促使贡献者Leandro Facchinetti彻底离开学术界。前博士生Leandro Facchinetti解释了他为何不再使用Racket，尽管他仍认为这是自己遇到过的设计最好的编程语言。虽然他高度赞扬了其S表达式语法、无与伦比的宏系统、扎实的文档以及充满创意的通用性，但他最终否定了其以语言为导向的编程这一核心理念，认为定制的领域特定语言会孤立协作者并削弱人际交流。此外，来自Racket及学术界资深领导层人物的排挤和不良行为破坏了他的参与体验，并促使他做出了彻底离开学术界的决定。尽管他不再在现实项目中采用它，但他仍推荐将Racket作为程序员拓展智识的极佳练习。尽管Leandro Facchinetti认为Racket或许是自己遇到过的设计最好的编程语言，但他仍停止了对其的广泛使用。 (0:00) Facchinetti认为，以语言为导向的编程通过创建小众的领域特定语言，而非利用JavaScript、Ruby或Lua等熟悉的宿主生态系统，导致了软件项目的孤立。 (4:26) Racket生态系统中资深学术领导人物的不良行为和人际摩擦，直接影响了Facchinetti退出博士项目并离开该社区的决定。 (6:26)

Source quotes

[4:26] Leandro Facchinetti: Let us all agree that programs should communicate ideas about what the computer should do to other people first, and the machine second. [0:00] Leandro Facchinetti: I used to use Racket almost exclusively for a couple of years a few years ago and I think it’s a great language, probably the best designed language I have ever seen.

Original transcript

[0:00] hi my name is lender fakinetti and in [0:02] this video i want to talk to you about a [0:03] programming language called racket [0:05] why i think it's a great language and [0:07] why i'm not using it anymore [0:09] first to counter my admittedly [0:11] clickbaity title [0:13] i want to give you a summary i used to [0:14] use racket almost exclusively for a [0:16] couple of years a few years ago [0:18] and i think it's a great language [0:19] probably the best designed language i [0:21] have ever seen [0:23] it allows you to express ideas about [0:24] code in a way that is [0:26] clear and precise and compact but [0:30] i'm not using it anymore because i no [0:32] longer buy into its premise which is [0:34] something called [0:35] language oriented programming i just [0:37] think that maybe racket is too [0:39] out there it's too different for you to [0:41] be able to communicate effectively with [0:43] other programmers also unfortunately i [0:45] had some bad experiences with people in [0:47] the record community especially people [0:49] up top who help design and build the [0:51] language and help shape its community [0:53] but more on that later let's begin with [0:55] some backstory i first heard about [0:57] racket when i was a phd student [0:59] i was interested in typography and then [1:01] this colleague which was also a phd [1:03] student said [1:03] hey you should read this book it's [1:05] called practical typography and i think [1:07] you will like it [1:08] and i read it and in fact i loved it [1:10] first because [1:11] it is a very well written book but also [1:13] because it was written [1:15] in a programming language that was [1:16] designed to build a book [1:18] and this programming language was [1:20] written in racket so i built a bunch of [1:22] things using racket [1:24] mostly static websites using pollen and [1:26] then some racket packages to be used on [1:28] top of pollen or alongside with pollen [1:31] one of which was to build components [1:34] like you would do with react [1:35] but using pollen and another one that [1:38] was like one of those [1:39] css preprocessors like sas and less but [1:42] based on s-expressions which are like [1:44] this [1:45] unique way of writing programs that is [1:48] familiar for languages in the lisp [1:50] tradition which racket is part of [1:52] i also did a qualifying project for my [1:54] phd using racket it was in the field of [1:57] cryptography and i designed the language [1:59] for cryptographers to use to express [2:01] their cryptography schemes i also made a [2:03] bunch of contributions to the language [2:05] itself [2:05] and to the ecosystem around the language [2:08] contributing to packages like pollen [2:10] and finally right as i was leaving the [2:12] record community i [2:13] built the first version of what could [2:15] have become my dissertation before i [2:16] dropped out of the phd program [2:18] i built that in record and it was a [2:21] program analysis [2:22] thing it's really out there in [2:23] programming language theory so i won't [2:25] get into that too much [2:26] okay so that's how i learned about [2:27] bracket and those are the things that i [2:29] built with racket so everything else i [2:31] say about the language should be colored [2:32] by this experience [2:33] now let's talk about the things that i [2:35] love about the language first off i [2:36] think it allows you to express [2:38] ideas about code in the most elegant way [2:40] i have to admit i really like [2:42] as expressions which is a contentious [2:43] point because many people hate them but [2:45] i think they help express ideas in a way [2:47] that is not ambiguous and clear [2:50] and once you get used to it you can read [2:52] it very well i think [2:53] maybe better than other forms of syntax [2:55] and also you cannot make a video about [2:57] bracket without mentioning macros i [2:58] think they are great [2:59] they allow you to rewrite the program in [3:01] the compilation steps [3:02] which is super powerful but at the same [3:05] time can lead to code that no one else [3:07] can read or maintain and [3:08] more on that later also the support for [3:10] the language is great it is [3:12] reasonably fast for the kind of language [3:14] that it is and it's getting faster with [3:16] new updates they are changing the core [3:18] of the language to some other virtual [3:20] machine to make it faster [3:22] it is frequently updated the [3:23] documentation for racket looks great and [3:26] reads great most of the time it was [3:27] written by people who write for a living [3:29] so they kind of know what they're doing [3:31] there are some excellent books about [3:32] racket including probably one of my [3:34] favorite programming books [3:35] ever called beautiful racket and the [3:37] mailing list is usually very active and [3:39] you can get very good answers there [3:41] as a programming language student i was [3:43] also drawn to racket for other reasons [3:44] there are some very interesting research [3:46] going on there probably one of the most [3:48] prominent examples is typed racket which [3:50] i think helped to inspire typescript [3:52] and there is a whole lot more that you [3:53] can do with bracket from web programming [3:55] to graphical user interfaces and even [3:56] some things that you might not expect [3:58] like generative art and typesetting and [4:00] video editing but really where racket [4:01] shines is for creating new languages [4:03] this is the idea of language-oriented [4:06] programming which is to create [4:07] new languages based on the domain of the [4:09] problem you are working with ideally [4:11] these new languages would allow you to [4:13] communicate better with the domain [4:14] experts for example [4:15] think of a cryptographer who is a [4:17] mathematician not a programmer [4:19] you can create a new language to allow [4:21] them to express ideas about cryptography [4:23] and at first [4:24] this sounds great but here are the [4:27] reasons why i don't believe in this [4:28] premise anymore [4:29] and why i'm not using racket anymore let [4:32] us all agree that programs should [4:33] communicate ideas about what the [4:35] computer should do [4:36] to other people first in the machine [4:38] second yes you want your program to [4:40] execute but mainly you want other people [4:42] to be able to read understand and [4:44] maintain your code and of course i [4:46] didn't come up with this mindset it's [4:47] the ethos of the record community [4:49] but if you believe that then programming [4:51] is not about finding the best and most [4:54] expressive way [4:55] to write some idea about code it's to [4:58] communicate that idea to other people [5:00] it's not about writing code that you [5:02] could print and frame it on your wall [5:04] it's about what other people make of it [5:06] now if you're creating your own [5:08] languages [5:08] who are you communicating with of course [5:10] there will be people who are willing to [5:12] learn your language [5:13] but you have to play into what people [5:15] already know and maybe you can bring [5:17] ideas of other programming languages [5:19] into yours [5:20] but i think that it's much more [5:21] effective to communicate through [5:23] graphical user interfaces spreadsheets [5:25] and other things like that that people [5:27] kind of already know how to use and if [5:28] you're really into the idea of [5:30] communicating through code [5:31] i think that the best way to do that is [5:33] with an embedded domain specific [5:34] language which is a language that lives [5:36] within another existing [5:38] language and the great thing about doing [5:39] that is that people already have some [5:41] expectations about how these other [5:42] languages work and they know their [5:44] syntax and they have tools that they [5:45] already like to use them and at that [5:47] point why would you choose racket as [5:49] your host language [5:50] you're carving a tiny world within the [5:52] small world of racket and in most cases [5:54] you're asking your users or programmers [5:57] to buy [5:58] all into this ecosystem that is too out [6:00] there i think that we have other [6:02] languages that allow you to do this idea [6:04] of embedding a domain specific language [6:07] and people already know them they are [6:08] languages like javascript [6:10] and lua and ruby when you're using these [6:12] other languages i find it's much easier [6:14] to find people who care about your [6:15] project and want to contribute to it [6:17] unfortunately i think that's probably [6:19] the main reason why most [6:20] bracket projects like pollen and some [6:22] others are run by [6:24] one person or a small group of people [6:26] speaking of people i think it's very sad [6:29] that i had some bad experiences with [6:30] some people in the record community [6:32] especially the people up top because [6:34] they are the kind of people who are [6:35] smart [6:36] and they know about it and they will not [6:38] lose a chance to tell you i'll give you [6:40] some examples i was at a record [6:41] conference having dinner with one of the [6:43] creators of the language and some other [6:45] attendees [6:46] and the creator of the language had some [6:48] very good points about higher education [6:50] and how it is kind of a scam in the u.s [6:52] but to prove his point he decided to ask [6:54] some questions to the waiter that were [6:56] kind of uncomfortable and everyone at [6:58] the table kind of cringed of course the [7:00] waiter was gracious about it but [7:02] still as another example i was talking [7:04] to another one of the creators of the [7:06] language [7:06] and he called one of my collaborators at [7:08] doofus and the educator [7:10] at my university which used to be the [7:12] johns hopkins university a bunch of [7:14] donkeys [7:15] i understand that he had some points to [7:17] make about how educators work but this [7:19] is not the way you make them right [7:20] it comes to a point that when i was [7:22] talking to the students of these people [7:25] they're kind of afraid of talking to [7:26] their advisors and i must admit that [7:28] spending time with these people [7:30] is one of the reasons why i decided to [7:32] drop out of the phd [7:34] and leave academia all together because [7:36] if that's how it looks like to be [7:38] successful in these communities i think [7:39] i prefer to try to be successful [7:41] somewhere else and i know that in every [7:43] community there are people who are toxic [7:45] and i must admit that the record [7:46] community introduced me to some of the [7:48] best people i have ever met [7:50] like matthew butterick and jay mccarthy [7:52] they are kind they're generous they are [7:53] super smart but unfortunately i think [7:55] that [7:55] this is one of those cases in which the [7:57] bad outweighs the good [7:59] at least it did for me anyway in [8:01] conclusion will i be using racket in the [8:03] near future [8:04] probably not but should you learn racket [8:06] and should you maybe use racket [8:08] totally absolutely it's a great language [8:10] if you want to learn more about [8:11] language-oriented programming in [8:13] wreckage there is a book called [8:14] language-oriented programming in record [8:16] a cultural anthropology which is a [8:18] series of interviews with many people in [8:20] the record community [8:21] including myself yes someone interviewed [8:24] me for a book isn't that great if you're [8:26] interested in learning more about this [8:27] there is a link in the description and [8:29] that's all i have for you today thanks [8:30] for watching this this is atp go for me [8:33] doing this kind of vlog thing but i [8:34] wanted to share this experience because [8:36] i think record is an [8:37] interesting language and i had some good [8:39] and bad experiences that i wanted to [8:41] share [8:42] anyway thanks for watching this and i [8:43] see you on the next one bye