devtools.fm: Developer Tools, Open Source, Software Development Mike Samuel - Temper
9 snips
Dec 15, 2025 Mike Samuel, a programming languages engineer and former Google employee renowned for his work on Google Calendar, joins the discussion. He shares fascinating insights about his journey in programming languages and the early challenges of JavaScript. Mike introduces Temper, a transformative language for translating logic across programming paradigms, emphasizing its object/functional design goals. He also explores the interplay between AI and coding, highlighting how Temper can enhance multi-language reliability and guardrails in AI-assisted development.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Career Loop: Frustration Fuels Language Work
- Mike Samuel describes his career loop of building things, getting frustrated, and returning to programming languages repeatedly.
- He says this cycle led to several useful projects, including Google Calendar and later language work.
Building Calendar Before Modern JS Tooling
- Mike recounts building Google Calendar in 2006 when JavaScript had no module system and teams rolled their own tooling.
- That era spurred work on bundlers, type checkers, linters, and other developer tools still used today.
Closure Compiler Began Inside Google
- Mike explains Closure Compiler's origins at Google, first used in Gmail as a dynamic bundler and quality checker.
- That internal tool later became the open-source Closure Compiler and influenced JavaScript tooling.