Ye Cannae Change the Laws of Physics • Kevlin Henney • GOTO 2025

This presentation was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2025. #GOTOcon #GOTOcph
https://gotocph.com

Kevlin Henney - Speaker, Writer, Author and Trainer @KevlinHenney 

RESOURCES
https://bsky.app/profile/kevlin.bsky.social
https://about.me/kevlin
https://twitter.com/KevlinHenney
https://linkedin.com/in/kevlin
https://instagram.com/kevlin.henney
https://kevlinhenney.medium.com

Links
https://physicsworld.com/a/great-gaffe-in-the-sky-the-erroneous-physics-behind-the-dark-side-of-the-moon
https://x.com/sethrosen/status/1428692052968185863
https://devm.io/programming/software-development-roadmap
https://x.com/martinfowler/status/1578154212974022657
https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf
https://x.com/iamdevloper/status/808344541669498881
https://97-things-every-x-should-know.gitbooks.io/97-things-every-programmer-should-know/content/en/thing_84
https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0009013
https://x.com/cdmo/status/1188806227079389184
https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~gilbert/pubs/BrewersConjecture-SigAct.pdf
https://x.com/KevlinHenney/status/1351956942877552646

ABSTRACT
Software is executable fiction. Software development is about constructing narratives, drawing from a broad palette of paradigms and technologies, married to our understanding of the needs and wants for a system. Abstraction allows us to simplify and reify the complexity of the world into a formal description that we continually update. Abstraction allows us to ignore things about the world and about computer systems that are irrelevant or inconvenient.

But there are limits to the enchantment of code and our ability to maintain illusions. When the rubber hits the road and the packet hits the network we find universal limits are there to keep it real. Nothing can be instantaneous or infinite. Not all computations can be reversed. Not everything is computable. Not everything can be known. Every computation costs time and energy.

Accompanied by a bunch of SF and retro pop culture references (not just Star Trek — we'll be crossing the streams), let's explore the metaphors and realities of the physical world and how they play out in our software systems. [...]

TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
02:48 Physics
04:40 FizzBuzz
13:13 Work
17:14 Roadmap
20:40 Business value
26:17 Speed of light
34:49 We need to think of time as a resource
44:11 Outro

Download slides and read the full abstract here:
https://gotocph.com/2025/sessions/3775

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/3kiTwJJ
Kevlin Henney • 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/2Yahf9U
Henney & Monson-Haefel • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know • https://amzn.to/3pZuHsQ
Henney, Buschmann & Schmidt • Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 5 • https://amzn.to/3GAPzN7
Douglas Adams • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy • https://amzn.to/4tBA3HY

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