Johanna PirkerJonathan Blow - On Game Design, Books, and many other things... | Jonathan Blow and Johanna Pirker discussing tools, techniques, and strategies for game development.
Jonathan Blow is known, among other things, for his games Braid and The Witness, the programming languages "Jai".
Jonathan Blow - On Game Design, Books, Movies, & many other things | gamedev Talks w Johanna PirkerJohanna Pirker2021-03-09 | Jonathan Blow - On Game Design, Books, and many other things... | Jonathan Blow and Johanna Pirker discussing tools, techniques, and strategies for game development.
Jonathan Blow is known, among other things, for his games Braid and The Witness, the programming languages "Jai".
Here is the list of books and media that was mentioned: http://jpirker.com/video/jonathan-blow-interview#HLF26 Day 6... closing with the HLF teamJohanna Pirker2026-09-19 | Final video... as the 13th Heidelberg Laureate Forum comes to a close, Albrecht Schmidt and me caught up with some of the people who help shape the Forum...
Agnes Szmolenszky is the Executive Director of the HLF Foundation; Jessica Fintzen is together with Albrecht the Scientific Co-Chair and professor of mathematics at the University of Bonn; Rafael Lang is Chairperson of the Board of the HLF Foundation and Co-President of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, Helge Holden is Mathematician at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), member of the HLF Scientific Committee and part of the HLF Founders Club; Tom Crawford is Mathematician and science communicator known for Tom Rocks Maths and Numberphile. He also served as Master of Ceremonies and moderator throughout the 13th HLF.
We spoke with them about their impressions of this year’s Forum, what makes the HLF special, and why bringing leading laureates together with the next generation of mathematicians and computer scientists matters.
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum brings recipients of the most prestigious awards in mathematics and computer science together with outstanding young researchers from around the world for a week of scientific exchange, inspiration and conversation.
#HLF26 #HeidelbergLaureateForum #HLF #Mathematics #ComputerScience #Science #Research #YoungResearchers #Heidelberg#HLF26 Totally unexpected encounter Martin Hairer and Albrecht SchmidtJohanna Pirker2026-09-19 | ...Day 5 at #HLF26 with Albrecht Schmidt & Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt at the.. Oktoberfest?Johanna Pirker2026-09-17 | Day 5 at #HLF26 with Albrecht Schmidt and Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt at the… Oktoberfest?
Something about me not everyone know.. I always wanted to become a phycicist.. this did not work well.
But it is so inspiring taling to Brian Schmidt (again). Brian Schmidt is an astrophysicist who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery that the expansion of our Universe is actually accelerating.. a finding that fundamentally changed modern cosmology. He led the High-Z Supernova Search Team that made the breakthrough using observations of distant supernovae.
@LaureateForum #HeidelbergLaureateForum #HLF26 #BrianSchmidt NobelPrize Physics Astrophysics Cosmology Science#HLF26 Surprise Interview Jack Dongarra with Albrecht SchmidtJohanna Pirker2026-09-17 | #HLF26 Surprise (Boat) Interview @LaureateForum
A spontaneous conversation with Jack Dongarra, recipient of the 2021 ACM A.M. Turing Award, together with Albrecht Schmidt at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (again, we were all trapped on a boat...).
#HLF26 #HLForum #JackDongarra #TuringAward #Supercomputing #HPC #ComputerScience #AI #ResearchHLF26 Day 4: with Albrecht Schmidt and today Laureate Bob Tarjan.. boat editionJohanna Pirker2026-09-16 | #HLF26 Day 4 @LaureateForum 🚢 Boat edition...
#HLF26 Day 4 Albrecht Schmidt and me want to share another update from the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation... the 🚢 Boat edition...
Today we did not summarize the day but instead took you directly to one of the events... Today’s recap comes from a slightly unusual location: we spent the afternoon trapped on a boat. And that turns out every year to have a major advantage: plenty of time for conversations with so many intersting people.
For this video, we had the chance to sit down (stand together) with Robert "Bob" Tarjan, recipient of the 1986 ACM A.M. Turing Award (together with John Hopcroft), and one of the people whose work fundamentally shaped modern algorithms and data structures.
Tarjan is behind an almost ridiculous list of things every computer scientist eventually encounters: strongly connected components, union-find analysis, Fibonacci heaps, splay trees, network-flow algorithms, and much more.
So what would YOU ask someone who has spent decades developing some of the foundational ideas of computer science... while being trapped on a boat?
#HLF26 #HLForum #RobertTarjan #TuringAward #Algorithms #ComputerScience #DataStructuresHLF26 Day 3: with Albrecht Schmidt and today Charles H. Bennett and Gilles BrassardJohanna Pirker2026-09-15 | #HLF26 Day 3 @LaureateForum
Another packed day at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, and Albrecht Schmidt and me are trying to summarize again..
And with us Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard, recipients of the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award, who gave a fantastic lecture. Their talk, "The Quantum Information Revolution from Wiesner to Turing" traced the story of quantum information from Wiesner’s early ideas in 1968 to quantum cryptography, quantum teleportation, and the foundations of modern quantum information science. One detail I particularly liked: their first paper on the topic, "How to reuse a one-time pad safely even if P=NP" was rejected by STOC in 1982.
...44 years later, they received the Turing Award for persisting with the idea... Quite a reminder that ideas that seem too unusual today may shape an entire field tomorrow.
+ an unexpected discussion in the end.. on what should we actually be most afraid of? AI, Quantum, Climate Change, Bitcoin,.. or Facebook?
#HLForum #QuantumComputing #QuantumInformation #AI #ComputerScience #TuringAward #InnovationJohn Hopcroft – Path, Education, & How to Win a Turing Award @LaureateForum | with Johanna PirkerJohanna Pirker2026-09-15 | John Hopcroft - His Path, Education, and How to Win a Turing Award... | John Hopcroft and I discuss his journey through computer science, the evolution of the field, education and research, and what it takes to do work worthy of computing’s highest honor, the Turing Award.
John Hopcroft is one of the pioneers of theoretical computer science and a professor emeritus at Cornell University. His research on algorithms, automata theory, and computational complexity helped establish some of the foundations of modern computer science. Together with Robert Tarjan, he received the 1986 ACM A.M. Turing Award for fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures.
In this conversation, we talk about John’s path through science and computing, from studying electrical engineering at Seattle University and Stanford to entering computer science at a time when the field itself was still taking shape. He reflects on becoming a professor, pursuing fundamental research, working with generations of students and researchers, and watching computer science transform over the course of his career.
We also discuss the question: How do you win a Turing Award? John shares his perspective on choosing important problems, developing deep foundations, finding the right research environment, collaborating with great people, and pursuing ideas that can have a lasting impact rather than simply following what is popular today.
One major point is that we talk about education, how education should be the most pressing concern, what universities can do to prepare students for a rapidly changing technological world, and John’s advice for students and young researchers trying to find their own path in computer science.
Live from the @LaureateForumHLF26 Day 2: with Albrecht Schmidt and Jessica Fintzen and ACM leadership from #HLF26 @LaureateForumJohanna Pirker2026-09-14 | Aaaaand we are back with Day 2 summary of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation #HLF26...
Our scientific programme managers Jessica Fintzen and Albrecht Schmidt summarize the programme highlights and give a preview we can exptect tomorrow (spoiler: AI and maths)...
Also today we have some amazing guests with us (totally planned in advance..) ... please meet the new ACM President Elisa Bertino, Chair of the ACM Europe Council Rosa M. Badia and Past ACM President Yannis Ioannidis....
For those wondering: ACM - the Association for Computing Machinery - is one of the world’s leading scientific and educational organizations for computing. Aaaaaaand it is also behind some of the field’s most prestigious honors several of which are particularly close to the HLF community. Most notably, ACM presents the ACM A.M. Turing Award - the "Nobel Prize of Computing". It also recognizes outstanding researchers through honors such as the ACM Prize in Computing or the ACM-W Athena Lecturer Award.
Spoiler: our tiny evening summary escalated a little and might contain some tips on how to aim for a Turing Award (or perhaps how not to)... plus a few thoughts on why we might ... or might not ... still be publishing papers in the future...
youtube.com/watch?v=mDjivspQhkATorsten Hoefler - On AI, Academic Career Advices, Games, SPCL @LaureateForum | with Johanna PirkerJohanna Pirker2026-09-14 | **Torsten Hoefler – On AI, Research, Video Games, and the Future of Computing...** |
Torsten Hoefler and I discuss the current state of artificial intelligence, the technology behind large-scale AI systems, research and academia (and of course sneak in some video games along the way).
Torsten Hoefler is a professor of computer science at ETH Zurich and Chief Architect for Machine Learning at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). His research focuses on high-performance computing, large-scale parallel systems, and machine learning, with his work helping shape technologies used to train modern AI systems. He is an IEEE and ACM Fellow and has received numerous awards for his contributions to high-performance computing.
In this conversation, we talk about where AI stands today and where it might be heading, what it takes to build and scale modern AI systems, and how computing and research have evolved. Torsten also shares his academic journey, from studying computer science and working on supercomputing systems to becoming a professor at ETH Zurich, and reflects on lessons learned along the way.
We also discuss video games, the importance of experimenting, life in academia, and Torsten's advice for students and young researchers trying to find their own path in science and technology.
Live from the @LaureateForum
More about Torsten: youtube.com/@spcl @thoefler on BlueSky & X; Talk 2025: heidelberg-laureate-forum.org/video/spark-session-thursday-1 Talk 2026: youtube.com/watch?v=j1v9N51p34EHLF26 Day 1: Heidelberg Laureate Forum with Albrecht Schmidt and Jessica Fintzen and Torsten HöflerJohanna Pirker2026-09-13 | After months and months of meticulous planning, scripting, rehearsing, and generally being extremely professional about this (....), Albrecht Schmidt and I are finally live with our daily tiny update podcast from the Heidelberg Laureate Forum. :-)
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLF) brings together some of the world’s most distinguished laureates in mathematics and computer science with young researchers from around the world for a week of conversations, ideas, and exchange. And, unsurprisingly, AI is a big topic this year... not only as a technology in itself, but also in terms of what it means for mathematics, computer science, research, and our fields more broadly.
For our very first episode, we were joined live by Scientific Programme Chair Jessica Fintzen and Laureate Torsten Hoefler 🇨🇭who, of course, also had also spent months preparing, rehearsing and carefully scripting every single second of this highly professional production. :-) Or maybe we just sat down, switched on the microphones, and started talking about what is the on the programme for the upcoming days and thought it would be nice to share a few bits and pieces with you all in this tiny episode :)..
And this was only day one... we’ll be back every evening from #HLF26 this week!
Let’s see how much of our meticulous planning survives until the final episode… :-)TUM Talking Dev (1) - Josh Sawyer: Developing for Small Teams, New Developer EditionJohanna Pirker2026-04-16 | Developing for Small Teams : New Developer Edition
Josh Sawyer started in the game industry in 1999 at Black Isle Studios, where he worked on the Icewind Dale games. Since 2005, he has been at Obsidian Entertainment, where he has directed Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, and the 2022 narrative adventure game Pentiment. He is currently Obsidian’s studio design director.
Follow Josh Sawyer: https://bsky.app/profile/jesawyer.bsky.social twitch.tv/jesawyer https://x.com/jesawyerPath of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #compuJohanna Pirker2026-03-05 | Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #compuJohanna Pirker2026-03-02 | Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #compuJohanna Pirker2026-02-25 | Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #compuJohanna Pirker2026-02-23 | Path of Exile Game Design Strategies - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-21 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-19 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-16 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-15 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-14 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-12 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-11 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-09 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-02-08 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevPath of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-07 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-05 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #Johanna Pirker2026-02-04 | Path of Exile as Science - What Makes This ARPG So Successful? #gamedev #indiedev #computerscience #poe #poe2Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-02-04 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-25 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedevJohanna Pirker2026-01-24 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedevConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-23 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-11 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-10 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-09 | #streamlaConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevdderConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-08 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-07 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-06 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-05 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-04 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-03 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2026-01-02 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2026-01-01 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2025-12-31 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2025-12-30 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2025-12-29 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2025-12-28 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2025-12-27 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2025-12-26 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingConversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevJohanna Pirker2025-12-25 | Conversation with Cory Davis - #SleepAwake is out now! #gamedev #indidevConversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programmingJohanna Pirker2025-12-24 | Conversation with Jonathan Blow #gamedev #indiedev #programming