Derek Dreyer
@herrdreyer.bsky.social
Get used to disappointment.
If something goes wrong with this update, I can't really say I wasn't warned.
November 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
If something goes wrong with this update, I can't really say I wasn't warned.
After triumphantly proclaiming the return of Herr Dreyer over two months ago, I finally managed to push out a proper blog post. Enjoy.
herrdreyer.wordpress.com/2025/10/19/o...
herrdreyer.wordpress.com/2025/10/19/o...
On Being Receptive to Criticism
Ah, the best-laid plans. Over two months ago, I triumphantly proclaimed that Herr Dreyer was back from the grave. I said I was going to try to push out shorter posts at a higher frequency, perfecti…
herrdreyer.wordpress.com
October 19, 2025 at 2:42 PM
After triumphantly proclaiming the return of Herr Dreyer over two months ago, I finally managed to push out a proper blog post. Enjoy.
herrdreyer.wordpress.com/2025/10/19/o...
herrdreyer.wordpress.com/2025/10/19/o...
Lia Schütze, a student at MPI-SWS, presented this poster at our recent retreat. I was blown away. Not only is it a work of art (which she designed herself), but the visuals actually made sense as a structural device for explaining the work.
October 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Lia Schütze, a student at MPI-SWS, presented this poster at our recent retreat. I was blown away. Not only is it a work of art (which she designed herself), but the visuals actually made sense as a structural device for explaining the work.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
I wrote about Claude Code, which to my absolute astonishment is quite good at theorem proving. For people who don't know theorem proving, this is like spending your whole life building F1 engines and getting lapped by a Tesco's shopping trolley www.galois.com/articles/cla...
Claude Can (Sometimes) Prove It
www.galois.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I wrote about Claude Code, which to my absolute astonishment is quite good at theorem proving. For people who don't know theorem proving, this is like spending your whole life building F1 engines and getting lapped by a Tesco's shopping trolley www.galois.com/articles/cla...
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
September 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
So excited and honored to receive an ERC Starting Grant for the project BrainAlign!! BrainAlign will bring LLMs closer to human understanding by directly aligning them with the human brain.
Stay tuned for our findings, and multiple postdoc and PhD openings in the coming years!
Stay tuned for our findings, and multiple postdoc and PhD openings in the coming years!
September 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
So excited and honored to receive an ERC Starting Grant for the project BrainAlign!! BrainAlign will bring LLMs closer to human understanding by directly aligning them with the human brain.
Stay tuned for our findings, and multiple postdoc and PhD openings in the coming years!
Stay tuned for our findings, and multiple postdoc and PhD openings in the coming years!
It's official: RTFM, the faculty mentoring workshop, is happening again, this time at POPL 2026 in Rennes. The one we had at PLDI 2024 in Copenhagen was well received, so I'm looking forward to the next edition. Stay tuned!
August 4, 2025 at 11:44 AM
It's official: RTFM, the faculty mentoring workshop, is happening again, this time at POPL 2026 in Rennes. The one we had at PLDI 2024 in Copenhagen was well received, so I'm looking forward to the next edition. Stay tuned!
Look, ma, I'm a hacker! 🤣
July 9, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Look, ma, I'm a hacker! 🤣
I appreciated them asking me about classical music, one of my primary sources of renewable energy in life.
This week's People of ACM profile features Derek Dreyer, Scientific Director @mpi_sws_ Among other topics, Dreyer discusses the Rust programming language, Iris separation logic, and his interest in classical music. Read here: bit.ly/3SMAuyY
People of ACM - Derek Dreyer
Derek Dreyer is a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) in Saarbrücken, Germany. At MPI-SWS, he leads the Foundations of Programming Group. His broad range of…
bit.ly
May 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I appreciated them asking me about classical music, one of my primary sources of renewable energy in life.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
March 29, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
Does unsafe undermine #rustlang 's guarantees? steveklabnik.com/writing/does...
Does unsafe undermine Rust's guarantees?
steveklabnik.com
March 19, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Does unsafe undermine #rustlang 's guarantees? steveklabnik.com/writing/does...
Based on the responses to this post, it would seem Bluesky is not a significant improvement on X.
March 14, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Based on the responses to this post, it would seem Bluesky is not a significant improvement on X.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
Is it possible to build a formally verified GC for OCaml that can be plugged into the compiler? We should how to in:
"A Mechanically Verified GC for OCaml"
kcsrk.info/papers/verif...
This has been accepted to the Journal of Automated Reasoning.
Code: github.com/prismlab/ver...
"A Mechanically Verified GC for OCaml"
kcsrk.info/papers/verif...
This has been accepted to the Journal of Automated Reasoning.
Code: github.com/prismlab/ver...
kcsrk.info
February 25, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Is it possible to build a formally verified GC for OCaml that can be plugged into the compiler? We should how to in:
"A Mechanically Verified GC for OCaml"
kcsrk.info/papers/verif...
This has been accepted to the Journal of Automated Reasoning.
Code: github.com/prismlab/ver...
"A Mechanically Verified GC for OCaml"
kcsrk.info/papers/verif...
This has been accepted to the Journal of Automated Reasoning.
Code: github.com/prismlab/ver...
Showed "8 1/2", my favorite film, to colleagues at MPI last night. Despite not being Italian, a Catholic, a filmmaker, a creative genius, or having a mistress (!), I find I relate to this film like no other. It captures how I experience the world and myself, and offers therapy for the impostor.
Fellini’s 8½ – a masterpiece by cinema’s ultimate dreamer
Federico Fellini never stuck to the facts. At his best, his films strike a perfect balance between fantasy and reality – and nowhere is this more evident than in his autobiographical classic, 8½
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Showed "8 1/2", my favorite film, to colleagues at MPI last night. Despite not being Italian, a Catholic, a filmmaker, a creative genius, or having a mistress (!), I find I relate to this film like no other. It captures how I experience the world and myself, and offers therapy for the impostor.
Are there not more than a handful of Republicans willing to stand up to Trump's assault on science? This kind of politicization of science is a disaster for science in America, and thus for science in general.
I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.
“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.
“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.
White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion
The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 28, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Are there not more than a handful of Republicans willing to stand up to Trump's assault on science? This kind of politicization of science is a disaster for science in America, and thus for science in general.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
Well-deserved! Iris is also a really great example of how well-engineered artifacts make it dramatically easier to pursue technically deep research.
Very proud to announce that the first Iris paper received the 2025 Most Influential POPL Paper Award this week. This is a testament to the amazing contributions of a wonderful international network of collaborators.
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
January 27, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Well-deserved! Iris is also a really great example of how well-engineered artifacts make it dramatically easier to pursue technically deep research.
Very proud to announce that the first Iris paper received the 2025 Most Influential POPL Paper Award this week. This is a testament to the amazing contributions of a wonderful international network of collaborators.
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
January 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Very proud to announce that the first Iris paper received the 2025 Most Influential POPL Paper Award this week. This is a testament to the amazing contributions of a wonderful international network of collaborators.
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
www.youtube.com/live/ZKwpY0g...
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
I am very happy for @herrdreyer.bsky.social and @natefoster.bsky.social who have become ACM Fellows! Well deserved!
Meet the 2024 #ACMFellows! ACM has named 55 outstanding members as ACM Fellows for their groundbreaking contributions to computing science and technology.
Please join us in applauding their accomplishment and contributions!
bit.ly/2E5styU
#Computing #Innovation
Please join us in applauding their accomplishment and contributions!
bit.ly/2E5styU
#Computing #Innovation
2024 ACM Fellows Celebrated for transformative contributions to computing science and technology.
ACM has named 55 of its members ACM for transformative contributions to computing science and technology. All the 2024 inductees are longstanding ACM Members whose accomplishments were selected by the...
bit.ly
January 24, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I am very happy for @herrdreyer.bsky.social and @natefoster.bsky.social who have become ACM Fellows! Well deserved!
My father was an amazing person, so brilliant and funny, so passionate yet pragmatic, so caring and nurturing of others. I am so sad to have lost him, but I am also so happy when I think of all the people he touched and who carry a piece of him in their souls. May we all keep his spirit alive.
Dr. Dreyer, former AAP president, remembered as advocate for child health equity
Benard P. Dreyer, M.D., FAAP, who served as AAP president in 2016 and received the 2024 Joseph St. Geme Leadership Award, died Jan. 1 at age 78.
publications.aap.org
January 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
My father was an amazing person, so brilliant and funny, so passionate yet pragmatic, so caring and nurturing of others. I am so sad to have lost him, but I am also so happy when I think of all the people he touched and who carry a piece of him in their souls. May we all keep his spirit alive.
Reposted by Derek Dreyer
Delighted to learn that the Faculty Mentoring workshop (RTFM@PLDI'24), organised by Amal Ahmed, @herrdreyer.bsky.social, and myself, was appreciated by the PLDI community:
blog.sigplan.org/2025/01/02/s...
If you'd like to help with organising the 2025 edition of RTFM, please, get in touch!
blog.sigplan.org/2025/01/02/s...
If you'd like to help with organising the 2025 edition of RTFM, please, get in touch!
January 4, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Delighted to learn that the Faculty Mentoring workshop (RTFM@PLDI'24), organised by Amal Ahmed, @herrdreyer.bsky.social, and myself, was appreciated by the PLDI community:
blog.sigplan.org/2025/01/02/s...
If you'd like to help with organising the 2025 edition of RTFM, please, get in touch!
blog.sigplan.org/2025/01/02/s...
If you'd like to help with organising the 2025 edition of RTFM, please, get in touch!
The idea for the paper came to Dr. Woodcock during a lunchtime discussion with Jay Falletta...The two were working on a project about washing machines, which strain Australia’s extremely limited water resources. They were “a little bit bored” by the task, Dr. Woodcock acknowledged.
Could Monkeys Really Type All of Shakespeare?
Not in this universe, a new study concludes.
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2025 at 11:09 AM
The idea for the paper came to Dr. Woodcock during a lunchtime discussion with Jay Falletta...The two were working on a project about washing machines, which strain Australia’s extremely limited water resources. They were “a little bit bored” by the task, Dr. Woodcock acknowledged.
I finally watched "Torn Curtain", a late Hitchcock film that is generally considered a failure. Much to my surprise, I thought it was a lot of fun! Paul Newman and Julie Andrews were clearly miscast and have zero chemistry, but...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torn_Cu...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torn_Cu...
Torn Curtain - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I finally watched "Torn Curtain", a late Hitchcock film that is generally considered a failure. Much to my surprise, I thought it was a lot of fun! Paul Newman and Julie Andrews were clearly miscast and have zero chemistry, but...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torn_Cu...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torn_Cu...
I wonder if I am the only person on earth who celebrated Christmas/New Year’s by watching both Squid Game 2 and Wanda (a classic depressing 1970 film by Barbara Loden, which Pamela Anderson recommended on her Criterion Closet picks).
www.criterion.com/films/29450-...
www.criterion.com/films/29450-...
Wanda
With her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of char...
www.criterion.com
December 29, 2024 at 8:59 PM
I wonder if I am the only person on earth who celebrated Christmas/New Year’s by watching both Squid Game 2 and Wanda (a classic depressing 1970 film by Barbara Loden, which Pamela Anderson recommended on her Criterion Closet picks).
www.criterion.com/films/29450-...
www.criterion.com/films/29450-...
I love this. And good call on snagging the entire Bergman set, Pamela -- it cost me a couple hundred bucks!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyo_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyo_...
Pamela Anderson’s Closet Picks
YouTube video by CRITERION
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2024 at 9:25 PM
I love this. And good call on snagging the entire Bergman set, Pamela -- it cost me a couple hundred bucks!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyo_...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyo_...