HackerTube / Video
Null References: The Billion Dollar Mistake - Tony Hoare
JoseCan
Tony Hoare's InfoQ talk in which he describes introducing null references in ALGOL W in 1965 and calls it his billion-dollar mistake. He discusses language designer responsibility and run-time checks.
The standard citation whenever null safety and language design come up.
4 Hacker News mentions · 2020–2025