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Tomas Petricek

@tomasp.net
730 followers 163 following 186 posts

Associate prof @mff.unikarlova.cuni.cz. Interested in new ways of thinking about programming and history & philosophy of computing. Previously at University of Kent & @cst.cam.ac.uk. Check out my book "Cultures of Programming"! tomasp.net/cultures

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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 5h
Also, 8:30 is not morning. Anyway, I'll be there too & looking forward to the Hazel Lab talk and catching up!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 24/09/2026
(An older practice when people explicitly wanted to include both genders was "student/ka" but this implies just two options, whereas using * reads more inclusive - think regex :-))
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 24/09/2026
In Czech, the best practice is to use * for the same purpose, e.g., student*ka where "student" is a masculine noun and "studentka" is a feminine noun. I suppose this is similar.
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 24/09/2026
Un énorme merci à Julien for presenting the Cultures of Programming book at @lambdanantes.bsky.social!
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Reposted by Tomas Petricek
Sam Aaron @samaaron.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Sonic Pi now runs in the web! sonic-pi.net
sonic-pi.net
Sonic Pi
Sonic Pi is a new kind of code-based instrument for a new generation of musicians. Use the same code for both composition and performance. Sonic Pi is free and open source software.
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 24/09/2026
And yes, I'm fully aware that this looks very much like Entropy from @dtemkin.bsky.social's 44 esolangs... esolangs.org/wiki/Entropy
esolangs.org
Entropy - Esolang
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 24/09/2026
Claude has discovered a previously unknown programming language construct. We don’t yet understand what this construct does, but only a handful of known constructs share its features
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‹Programming› Conference @programming-conf.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In 2027, the International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming (‹Programming› 2027) will be held from 15 to 19 March in Kyoto, Japan. We are looking for workshops and similar events. More info, deadlines, and submissions: 2027.programmingconference.org/track/progra...
2027.programmingconference.org
‹Programming› 2027 - Workshops - ‹Programming› 2027
To build a community and to foster an environment where participants can exchange ideas and experiences related to practical software development, <Programming> will host a number of workshops and sim...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 21/09/2026
Charles University has a new funding scheme! If you are international researcher who wants to join us in Prague (3-12 years after your PhD), consider applying: cuni.cz/UKEN-2541.html The deadline (9 Nov) is tight, but it's a new thing. Happy to help anyone with interests overlapping with mine!
cuni.cz
About the programme
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 21/09/2026
I haven't done more than what's in the post - but you could e.g. see if probabilities go down overall when you get into an incorrect branch
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 21/09/2026
See the paper for more things you can do with models like Jev: tomasp.net/academic/pap...
tomasp.net
The Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Calculus
In many programming systems, the user can interactively construct a program by repeatedly triggering some kind of completion mechanism and choosing one of the offered options. In this paper, we formal...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 21/09/2026
Not something I was expecting! An AI startup has secretly been building a model for controlling programming systems based on my choose-your-adventure calculus formalism, to be presented at Onward! 2026 Here are some quick experimenters using TypeSafe AI's Jev: tomasp.net/blog/2026/co...
tomasp.net
Completing Programming Adventures with Jev
Was the System One model Jev built to work with my choose-your-own-adventure calculus model of programming systems? The fit is perfect! In this post, I run a couple of experiments to evaluate accurac...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 18/09/2026
It implements an idea that @jonathoda.bsky.social has been thinking about for years: www.subtext-lang.org/PAINT22.pdf
subtext-lang.org
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 18/09/2026
One more Denicek demo! We use managed copy & paste to copy a formula with a bug. We can go back in history before the copying, fix the formula & merge the edit. This fixes the copied formula too. Check it out: tomasp.net/denicek/#cha...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 17/09/2026
How to build a TODO list app in Denicek? See it for yourself here: tomasp.net/denicek/ You can use programming-by-demonstration to record steps copying new item to a list. A neat trick is that, when you add "completed" checkboxes, replaying the "Add" action adds them too! (By merging edits...)
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 15/09/2026
We presented Denicek at UIST 2025. Now you can play with the demos interactively! Write a counter and TODO list app, organise a conference with co-organisers, clean data in an interactive notebook... Essay backed by the real implementation: tomasp.net/denicek/ (with @jonathoda.bsky.social)
tomasp.net
Denicek: Computational substrate for document-oriented end-user programming
Programming by demonstration, collaborative editing, incremental recomputation and handling of schema change can make programming easier, but how can we support all of them in a single system? Denicek...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 09/09/2026
Thanks, but it is an obscure blog post! Oh, and it was probably written before DOIs were invented, so Conference Publishing wouldn't let you do that.
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 09/09/2026
Back when there were only two languages to compare (and "aspx" was a common file extension!), I wrote this: tomasp.net/blog/csharp-... Looking forward to the talk at #oopsla and comparing notes :-)
tomasp.net
Async in C# and F#: Asynchronous gotchas in C#
This article is inspired by an MVP summit talk about common pitfalls in the C# asynchronous programming model. I look at a number of easy to make mistakes when writing asynchronous code in C# and demo...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 01/09/2026
Another long-neglected part has been the gallery of photos from my various travels. I finally added pictures for most of 2026 if you are looking for an easier read :-) tomasp.net/calendar/
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 01/09/2026
I have been neglecting my website... But at least, I managed to upload all the papers, done recently with amazing students and collaborators! Including three papers to be presented at SPLASH in Oakland. Get them all from: tomasp.net
Listing of papers:

 Timeline: Adding the Time Dimension to Spreadsheets
In Proceedings of OOPSLA 2026

Towards Critical Abstraction for Software
In Proceedings of Onward! Essays 2026

The Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Calculus
In Proceedings of Onward! Papers 2026

Formal Semantics and Type System for Vega Data Transformations In Proceedings of FTfJP 2026
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 30/08/2026
Peter Eisenman's House X vibes! eisenmanarchitects.com/House-X-1975
A photograph of Peter Eisenman's House X model against a black background, showing scattered rectangular panels — dark frames, wire mesh, and gridded planes — floating at varying heights and tilts above a stepped white base, appearing fragmented because it's viewed from an angle other than the single station point at which the pieces resolve into a coherent axonometric.
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 29/08/2026
Thanks for linking this! Some of it has evolved into a more recent paper: tomasp.net/academic/pap...
tomasp.net
On the Limits of Making Programming Easy
How can we make programming easier? Programming is a tangle of conceptual models, languages, user interfaces and more and we cannot advance all of these at the same time. This makes it difficult to ta...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 27/08/2026
The only course I attended during my PhD in computer science at Cambridge was on Mercury (the chemical element) and it was great!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 08/07/2026
I suspect this is a form of technical debt. Of course we know that documenting such processes properly would be beneficial in the long term, but where to find time to do this... The incentives for dealing with this kind of technical debt are even worse in academia than in the software world...?
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 01/07/2026
Getting ready for my #ecoop academy tutorial on programming systems!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 29/06/2026
My scenic tour around the Austro-Hungarian empire is going (mostly) according to the plan so far...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 29/06/2026
On my way to #ecoop! (*) Don't miss Kristýna's talk about our work on formalising Vega on Tue (2026.ecoop.org/home/FTfJP-2...) and my Academy talk on programming systems on Wed (2026.ecoop.org/track/ecoop-...). (*) The first three connections are not Deutsche Bahn, so I'm optimistic :-)
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 01/06/2026
Someone made a good strategic choice of not inviting any British or Eastern European reviewers here!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 01/06/2026
Very well deserved, congratulations!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 20/05/2026
You are an excellent politician. Make no mistakes.
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 14/05/2026
My university has a fund for post-docs coming from abroad! If you are interested in working with me & our group on something related to programming systems and languages, from PL, HCI or historical & philosophical perspectives, get in touch (ideally in a few days...) See: cuni.cz/UKEN-178.html
cuni.cz
Junior Fund
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Reposted by Tomas Petricek
フラジークHLADÍK・ラジムRadim @hlageek.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
📣What's new? The Novelty and Inequalities in Science symposium will be held in Prague (Oct. 8–9, 2026)! Please consider proposing an abstract on the topics of recognizing and rewarding novelty in science. More details: stss.flu.cas.cz/novelty2026 #scienceofscience #metascience #sociologyofscience 🧪
stss.flu.cas.cz
Novelty and Inequalities in Science
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 22/04/2026
Až budete na návštěvě zpět, budete muset přijít na domácí slivovicový brambory!
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Informatika na Matfyzu @informatfyz.cuni.cz · 15/04/2026
Programování není jen kód, je to kultura! 💻📜 Rektor UK Jiří Zima udělil prestižní Cenu Bedřicha Hrozného za tvůrčí počin a my máme obrovskou radost, že ji získal docent Tomáš Petříček z naší @mff.unikarlova.cuni.cz! 🏆
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 13/04/2026
Figured it out. I'll keep ": " but drop one "the". Making it look like it's written by an Eastern European is fine :-).
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 13/04/2026
Do I replace: "massive blind spot: it focuses on" with "massive blind spot—it focuses on" and make my grant application look AI generated (*) but save the one character that I need to save? ____ (*) Regardless of whether it actually is or is not. That's a separate question!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 16/03/2026
I'm afraid the only "ebook" format aside from the free open access PDF is "Adobe eBook reader" (whatever that is): www.cambridge.org/cz/universit... (The OA license makes it possible for me to produce ePub or other nicer formats from the source, but I haven't managed to do this yet...)
cambridge.org
Cultures of Programming | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
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Alexander Bandukwala @bandukwala.me · 27/02/2026
I’m looking for participants for a paid user study on a prototype system for tabular programming (programming with tables / data frames). 2 hours • $50 Visa prepaid card Hoping to finish sessions by March 13. Details + sign up in 🧵 Reposts appreciated! 🙏
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 27/02/2026
Říkají tam taky tlačítka pro zmáčknutí nadšené "Wait!!" jako u jižních sousedů?
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 12/02/2026
Good, thank you! Nice to see you here. Hope you're well too!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 12/02/2026
We created an exhibition to go along with my 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 book! tomasp.net/cultures/exh... It tells the story of how programming concepts methodologies emerge amidst clashes and collaborations between cultures. 🖼If you want to display this at your university or conference, let me know!
tomasp.net
Cultures of Programming - A Companion Exhibition to the Book
How interactions and disagreements between the different cultures of programming shaped programming concepts and methodologies that programmers use today, including programming languages, types and ob...
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Informatika na Matfyzu @informatfyz.cuni.cz · 11/02/2026
👩‍💻 Dnes slavíme Mezinárodní den žen a dívek ve vědě. Na Matfyzu potkáváme každý den inspirativní vědkyně a studentky, které posouvají hranice technologií. 🚀 Děkujeme všem našim kolegyním a studentkám za jejich práci, preciznost a nadšení. Jste inspirací pro budoucí generace informatiček! 💙
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 12/02/2026
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 10/02/2026
The @undonecs.org programme has 27 (!!) talks asking some of the most fundamental questions about computer science. The early registration deadline is February 16th, so sign up soon: www.undonecs.org/2026/program... (Also, it costs between 10x and ∞x less than your regular ACM CS conference.)
undonecs.org
Conference programme
2nd conference on Undone Science in Computer Science
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 09/02/2026
...and I was pleasantly surprised that Claude managed to update the project from outdated Fable+WebPack to reasonably up-to-date Fable+Vite setup. (Requiring just one small #fsharp tweak and one strange manual edit to the packaging process...)
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 09/02/2026
After some *checks notes* umm.. 6 years, I released a new version of my composable data visualization library, adding support for images! compostjs.github.io/compost/demo... I still think this is the best way of doing composable data visualizations. See the paper: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 05/02/2026
It has arrived!!!
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 02/02/2026
A new web page for my book! tomasp.net/cultures/ It has all the links you may need to get the open access PDF, buy a hardcopy or an ebook as well as some older talks & slides. If you run a podcast, conference or a user group, I'm always hapy to join & talk about something from the book!
tomasp.net
Cultures of Programming - The Development of Programming Concepts and Methodologies
What defines a correct program? What education makes a good programmer? The answers to these questions depend on whether programs are seen as mathematical entities, engineered socio-technical systems ...
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 29/01/2026
Unicode geek → 〃
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Tomas Petricek @tomasp.net · 27/01/2026
I've now reached a stage in my career where I have to carefuly manage my time - and so I create a list of todo items to work on at the start of each month to keep myself organized!
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