Episode 199 • • 42:47 - 45:07
199: Elephant In The Room
Flash Crash, Erlang Programming Language Theory
New information suggests the May 2010 "Flash Crash" may have been caused by code written in Erlang, a language that allows for recompiling and reloading code while a server is operating. This supports a theory that a programmer, possibly linked to Sergei Aleynikov, ran a "beta test" that accidentally crashed the market. The Erlang virtual machine's ability to execute old and new code simultaneously is cited as a key factor.