I came to write THAT paper with Leslie Lamport
Summary
This piece recounts how Leslie Lamport and Lawrence C. Paulson collaborated to revise a controversial TOPLAS submission into a co-authored piece 'Types Considered Harmful' and reflects on the evolution of typed vs untyped specification languages. It surveys Lamport's stance, the historical context of type theory, and modern verification successes like CompCert, seL4, and Nitro, arguing that typed formalisms are generally beneficial, while acknowledging ongoing exploration of set-theoretic notations. The article offers a historical perspective with implications for software verification and formal methods communities.