Getting things moving again?

[Norman Richards]

Is anyone still out there?  Any interest in resurrecting this group?  Maybe setting up a meetup page that new people might actually find?  Just curious.  

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Norman Richards's message of 2012-09-12 00:08:58 -0500:

>
> Is anyone still out there? Any interest in resurrecting this group? Maybe
> setting up a meetup page that new people might actually find? Just curious.

I'd really like to see this group have more traction. I haven't given up on
it.

I think it may make more sense to move organization to Meetup.com. I've seen
some groups use Meetup pretty effectively. Just a note, I'd not use their
forum features at all because they're not even close to a proper mailing list.

Does that sound like a good idea?

Posts like this normally help rally a group of people to get together at least
once. We'll probably launch into discussions of what time/day works best for
everyone one. We used to do this on a Saturday, but I suspect that people like
their weekends free for their families, so perhaps some weekday after-work
meetup?

-Sukant

[Joel Stanley]

I'm certainly interested in attending, and agree that a weeknight evening would be best.  Also second the meetup.com idea.

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[Lynn Bender]

I just created the Austin Functional Programmers meetup group:

http://www.meetup.com/Austin-Functional-Programmers/

and invites to a few of you : Joel, Norman, etc,

I'll pick up the tab for the group.

Meetup will attract a lot more members.

I've turned off mailing list and message board, and will put a link back to the google group.

I've seen this group around for years. I'd love to help promote it and get it some traction.

-- 
-Lynn Bender
http://geekaustin.org
http://twitter.com/linearb
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnbender

[Chance Coble]

Nice!  Thanks Lynn!

I'll do some posting of the new pointer to see if it gets some more attention for a weeknight meeting.

Regards,

Chance

[Norman Richards]

On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 11:58:38 AM UTC-5, Sukant Hajra wrote:

Posts like this normally help rally a group of people to get together at least
once.  We'll probably launch into discussions of what time/day works best for
everyone one.  We used to do this on a Saturday, but I suspect that people like
their weekends free for their families, so perhaps some weekday after-work
meetup?

Yeah - why don't we just pick a date to all get together and chat.  I never attended the old group, so I don't know what everyone's interests are.

I'm attending Strange Loop next week.  Perhaps some time after that?  There should be plenty of good things coming out of that to talk about if nothing else.  Maybe 10/1 or 10/2?   I'd be happy to cross-promote this with the Clojure meetup, there's probably lots of overlap.

Side note, if anyone is interested, I'm trying to organize a logic programming study group.  The plan was to do this under the Clojure meetup, going through something like the Reasoned Schemer with application to Clojure's core.logic.  But this could be broadened a bit if there's interest.  It's not FP, but I guess anyone interested in FP in general is probably at least somewhat curious of logic programming.  

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Norman Richards's message of 2012-09-12 14:53:48 -0500:

>
> On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 11:58:38 AM UTC-5, Sukant Hajra wrote:
> >
> > Posts like this normally help rally a group of people to get together at
> > least once. We'll probably launch into discussions of what time/day works
> > best for everyone one. We used to do this on a Saturday, but I suspect
> > that people like their weekends free for their families, so perhaps some
> > weekday after-work meetup?
>
> Yeah - why don't we just pick a date to all get together and chat. I never
> attended the old group, so I don't know what everyone's interests are.
>
> I'm attending Strange Loop next week.

Hey, I'm going too. For you (or anyone else going), I'm @shajra on Twitter,
which may be a way to keep up with me at the conference.

> Perhaps some time after that? There should be plenty of good things coming
> out of that to talk about if nothing else. Maybe 10/1 or 10/2?

Both 10/1 and 10/2 are good for me. 10/1 (Monday) is slightly better for me
than Tuesdays or Thursdays (I'm trying to exercise on those days).

> I'd be happy to cross-promote this with the Clojure meetup, there's probably
> lots of overlap.

Is there a Clojure meetup here in town? I must have missed it. I've been
talking about starting a Scala meetup for some time, but honestly, my heart is
really isn't really in Scala, so much as doing FP in Scala.

Here's what options I'd considered in my head:

- reboot this FP group (which appears to have happened just now anyway)

- start a group with a Scala-specific focus

- start a "progressive programmers" group with much more flexibility to
talk about any thing outside the mainstream, whether architecture or
languages.

I only really have time for cat-herding one group. Regardless of the Scala or
ProgProg groups, I think the FP group should be nutured. FP is enables so many
awesome architectures, and it's not limited to any particular language. It's a
really good topic to rally a group around.

> Side note, if anyone is interested, I'm trying to organize a logic
> programming study group. The plan was to do this under the Clojure meetup,
> going through something like the Reasoned Schemer with application to
> Clojure's core.logic. But this could be broadened a bit if there's interest.
> It's not FP, but I guess anyone interested in FP in general is probably at
> least somewhat curious of logic programming.

That sounds interesting. Keep the group posted on how that develops.

-Sukant

[Norman Richards]

On Wednesday, September 12, 2012 5:06:22 PM UTC-5, Sukant Hajra wrote:

> I'm attending Strange Loop next week.

Hey, I'm going too.  For you (or anyone else going), I'm @shajra on Twitter,
which may be a way to keep up with me at the conference.

Anyone else?  I'll look for you there and we can chat.  

 

Both 10/1 and 10/2 are good for me.  10/1 (Monday) is slightly better for me
than Tuesdays or Thursdays (I'm trying to exercise on those days).

Cool.  Hopefully I'm not stepping on anyone's toes, but I'll go ahead and add a tentative 10/1 meeting to the meetup group.  We can debate time/place (and date), but having something there looming at least time boxes our planning. :)

 

> I'd be happy to cross-promote this with the Clojure meetup, there's probably
> lots of overlap.

Is there a Clojure meetup here in town?  I must have missed it.  I've been
talking about starting a Scala meetup for some time, but honestly, my heart is
really isn't really in Scala, so much as doing FP in Scala.

http://www.meetup.com/Austin-Clojure-Meetup/

I've been helping Sam to organize it.  We have a pretty good group and even got a small group out to do a Clojure app for facebook hack day.  We have a meeting coming up next monday and also a coding day coming up at the end of the month.

 

Here's what options I'd considered in my head:

Good ideas - let's discuss.  I'm happy to go in just about any direction, as long as there's interesting topics and people who want to build and learn.   

[Matt M]

Oct 1 is my wife's birthday, which decreases the odds of my coming to this meet, but I'm still lurking here and will probably show up to some of them.

Matt

[Norman Richards]

On Thursday, September 13, 2012 5:14:48 PM UTC-5, Matt M wrote:

Oct 1 is my wife's birthday, which decreases the odds of my coming to this meet, but I'm still lurking here and will probably show up to some of them.

Anyone else with a date/time/place suggestion? I'm not running the show - I just wanted to put out a date as a discussion point.  I see one other person on the meetup doesn't like monday.  I'll be good with whatever the consensus is.   I'm just eager to meetup and learn.

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Norman Richards's message of 2012-09-14 10:24:49 -0500:

I'm fine with Oct 2. My workout schedule is way easier to move around than a
spouse's birthday. Matt, would meeting on the 2nd help you avoid your birthday
conflict? Anyone else have some feedback?

Also, was there a suggestion for a meetup place? I missed that if there was.
We last were meeting up at Genuine Joe's [1]. It's not a bad place to meet up,
especially if you reserve one of their breakout rooms. I own a projector that
I have brought previously. Talking about code is no substitute for looking and
working with it viscerally, so I'm happy to bring it along just in case we find
the need.

I'm open to other suggestions.

-Sukant

[1] http://genuinejoecoffee.com/

[Matt M]

Oct 2 after about 6:30pm works for me.  Genuine Joe's works for me too, but I'm not picky.

[Norman Richards]

On Friday, September 14, 2012 1:25:13 PM UTC-5, Sukant Hajra wrote:

Also, was there a suggestion for a meetup place?  I missed that if there was.
We last were meeting up at Genuine Joe's [1].  It's not a bad place to meet up,
especially if you reserve one of their breakout rooms.  I own a projector that
I have brought previously.  Talking about code is no substitute for looking and
working with it viscerally, so I'm happy to bring it along just in case we find
the need.

Genuine Joe's is within walking distance, so I'm good with that.  We had the first Clojure meetup at Monkey Nest, which has a TV available for display purposes.  If the group is small, I can potentially donate some of my conference room time at cospace.  We're doing a coding day there at the end of the month, so if it works out well that might be an option sometimes.

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Norman Richards's message of 2012-09-15 10:08:14 -0500:

>
> Genuine Joe's is within walking distance, so I'm good with that. We had the
> first Clojure meetup at Monkey Nest, which has a TV available for display
> purposes.

Monkey Nest (on Burnet, right?) is really close to me but I've never scoped it
out with a meeting in mind. If you've been to both Genuine Joe's and Monkey
Nest, I trust your intuition on which is better.

> If the group is small, I can potentially donate some of my conference room
> time at cospace. We're doing a coding day there at the end of the month, so
> if it works out well that might be an option sometimes.

Cospace is completely awesome too (the ideal space, I think); I've just never
properly thought out out to pay for space in a way a small meetup like this one
can afford.

What's the coding day you guys do? It sounds interesting.

-Sukant

[Chance Coble]

Just to speak to the affordability, this group tends to catch the interest of local companies and recruiters.  If anyone feels there is something the group needs, even if it is just some space or free pizza at meetups, I would be happy to reach out for some sponsorship.  

Regards,

Chance

-Sukant

[Norman Richards]

On Saturday, September 15, 2012 10:32:23 AM UTC-5, Sukant Hajra wrote:

Monkey Nest (on Burnet, right?) is really close to me but I've never scoped it
out with a meeting in mind.  If you've been to both Genuine Joe's and Monkey
Nest, I trust your intuition on which is better.

I haven't used the rooms at Genuine Joe's, so I can't compare.  The room at Monkey's Nest is on the small side, and there's a lot of demand for the room so time can be really tight.  The wall-mounted screen is nice for presentations and coding.  

Cospace is completely awesome too (the ideal space, I think); I've just never
properly thought out out to pay for space in a way a small meetup like this one
can afford.

 

Part of a cospace membership is a couple hours of conference room time.  The rooms tend to be pretty booked up during the day but the nights are generally not too hard to get, and weekends are never booked.  The room's aren't huge, but for a small group it could work.  Use of the open area isn't free, which is what we'd need for any large group meeting.  But it could work for some things. 

What's the coding day you guys do?  It sounds interesting.

We've done a couple.  I wouldn't say any have been wildly successful in terms of output, but it's been fun.  So far people have worked on individual projects.  I'd really like to organize something a bit more structured where people work together in groups to build something.   The next one will be in a couple weeks where we are going to be working with one of the CloudBees developers to help improve their quick-start support for Clojure web applications.  That's more of a special event than a normal coding day, but it'll be cool.  

http://www.meetup.com/Austin-Clojure-Meetup/events/79902332/

I've been waiting for the meetup next monday to announce it to the group.  If anyone here wants to come, feel free.  You don't need to know Clojure - just come and hang out and learn.  

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Norman Richards's message of 2012-09-15 18:45:05 -0500:

>
> I haven't used the rooms at Genuine Joe's, so I can't compare. The room at
> Monkey's Nest is on the small side, and there's a lot of demand for the
> room so time can be really tight. The wall-mounted screen is nice for
> presentations and coding.

Here's the scoop on Genuine Joe's for comparison. You really should reserve
one of their two rooms for a meetup. Seating can otherwise be hard to round up
for a group. Competition is really not fierce for the rooms. Sometimes you
get one; a few times they're both booked. The earlier the reservation, the
better. Just call them up to make the reservation.

As I recall, reservation for the larger room is $25 and the smaller one is $15.
Technically this is only for one hour, but the reality is they won't kick you
out unless another group has a reservation in the following hour. Also, all
purchases by members go towards the cost of the room, so if everyone gets a
coffee, it's normally really easy to waive the reservation fee.

The larger room has a pulldown screen that's pretty nice if someone can bring a
projector (which I'm happy to do). The smaller room has enough seating, but
figuring out what to project on can be an exercise in being ghetto.

> Part of a cospace membership is a couple hours of conference room time. The
> rooms tend to be pretty booked up during the day but the nights are generally
> not too hard to get, and weekends are never booked. The room's aren't huge,
> but for a small group it could work. Use of the open area isn't free, which
> is what we'd need for any large group meeting. But it could work for some
> things.

I've had a meetup in one of the larger rooms (not the main open area). I
thought it was a nice space. If you have a Cospace membership and can grab a
room sized for as many people RSVP the meetup invite with a screen to project
on, it may be our best option.

-Sukant

[Dustin Smith]

 I'm excited and looking forward to learning a lot from this group :). I work at BuildASign.com and we often host groups like this. It won't work for this week, but I'll chat with our facilities manager and see if we can use my office in the future. Thoughts around that idea?

-Dustin

[Norman Richards]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Dustin Smith <shux...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm excited and looking forward to learning a lot from this group :). I
> work at BuildASign.com and we often host groups like this. It won't work for
> this week, but I'll chat with our facilities manager and see if we can use
> my office in the future. Thoughts around that idea?

We've had a suggestion or two for locations in the meetup comments.
My initial reaction is that we should probably plan to keep this first
meeting at some place open and social. We can consider the
possibilities for meeting locations after seeing what people are
interested in doing. If we want to to try and organize talks, then
these company locations could be great. If we want to do coding,
perhaps a location like cospace would be good. If we want to
organize discussion groups, one of the coffee houses might be good.
Capital Factory still has open nights (I hear), so that could be a
good possibility for a number of meeting types.

[Cody Koeninger]

On Sep 12, 5:06 pm, "Sukant Hajra" <w6fbrjf...@snkmail.com> wrote:
> Is there a Clojure meetup here in town?  I must have missed it.  I've been
> talking about starting a Scala meetup for some time, but honestly, my heart is
> really isn't really in Scala, so much as doing FP in Scala.
>
> Here's what options I'd considered in my head:
>
>     - reboot this FP group (which appears to have happened just now anyway)
>
>     - start a group with a Scala-specific focus

Sukant, not to derail, but I think it's a great time to start a Scala
group. Odersky's company Typesafe is doing some really smart things
to promote the language, and his free online course at Coursera just
started up (https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun). It's basically
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, taught using Scala
instead of Scheme.

I'm going to go ahead and try to find public space ASAP to meet weekly
to discuss the Scala course (materials are updated weekly, over the
next month and a half), hopefully continue that momentum into a
regular scala enthusiast group. If you're interested, let me know.

As far as the FP group, if the meeting is on the first I can stop by,
can't on the second. My main concern, having seen it getting
resurrected and then petering out again two times now, is consistency
and focus.

-Cody

[Norman Richards]

On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 9:37 PM, Cody Koeninger <co...@koeninger.org> wrote:

> I'm going to go ahead and try to find public space ASAP to meet weekly
> to discuss the Scala course (materials are updated weekly, over the
> next month and a half), hopefully continue that momentum into a
> regular scala enthusiast group. If you're interested, let me know.

I would attend. I'm taking that class now. My primary focus this last
year has been Clojure, but I'm hoping to introduce Scala on an
upcoming project. I've dabbled, but the class is a good chance for me
to focus my efforts.

> As far as the FP group, if the meeting is on the first I can stop by,
> can't on the second. My main concern, having seen it getting
> resurrected and then petering out again two times now, is consistency
> and focus.

I wasn't around for any of the earlier attempts at getting this going,
but if you guys had problems maintaining the group with the general
focus then it's probably not a bad idea. There was some discussion
about the overlap with the fp meetup at last week's Clojure meetup
too.

Maybe you should create a Scala group. The fp meetup to cross-promote
topics aren't language-specific with other groups like the Clojure
meetup. For example, I'm putting together a lambda calculus talk that
might be interesting to people in both groups but specific to neither.
I believe we're planning a Datomic talk for next month's Clojure
meetup. I'm guessing a lot of people here would be interested in
that. (or maybe the fp thing is completely redundant)

[Sukant Hajra]

Excerpts from Cody Koeninger's message of 2012-09-23 21:37:48 -0500:

>
> Sukant, not to derail, but I think it's a great time to start a Scala group.
> Odersky's company Typesafe is doing some really smart things to promote the
> language, and his free online course at Coursera just started up
> (https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun). It's basically Structure and
> Interpretation of Computer Programs, taught using Scala instead of Scheme.

Yup. I signed up, but haven't had time to dig in with Strange Loop. I should
have time once I get back.

> I'm going to go ahead and try to find public space ASAP to meet weekly to
> discuss the Scala course (materials are updated weekly, over the next month
> and a half), hopefully continue that momentum into a regular scala enthusiast
> group. If you're interested, let me know.

Okay, you've sold me. I think we should start this Scala group now. I'm
liking Meetup.com. I think it's pretty effective at reaching people. But
finding a place is good too.

> As far as the FP group, if the meeting is on the first I can stop by, can't
> on the second. My main concern, having seen it getting resurrected and then
> petering out again two times now, is consistency and focus.

Yeah. I think you really helped out where you could. Your illustration of
parser combinators in Scala with for comprehensions was pretty good, I thought.

I still like the idea of translating good readings to something along the lines
of a REPL demo. We can talk more when APF reboots again.

-Sukant

[Cody Koeninger]

On Sep 23, 10:02 pm, Norman Richards <o...@nostacktrace.com> wrote:
> I would attend. I'm taking that class now.  My primary focus this last
> year has been Clojure, but I'm hoping to introduce Scala on an
> upcoming project.  I've dabbled, but the class is a good chance for me
> to focus my efforts.
>
>

> Maybe you should create a Scala group.

Cool - went ahead and created a group. Let me know over there what
your availability is like for meeting about the Coursera course.

https://groups.google.com/group/austin-scala-enthusiasts

If you're looking to introduce scala on work projects, I'd be happy to
share our experience, we've been using it at work since 2009.

[Matt M]

Is this meetup happening?  The 1st or the 2nd?  Where?

[Norman Richards]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Matt M <mclella...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is this meetup happening? The 1st or the 2nd? Where?

It looks like I'm being called out of town all next week, so I'm not
going to be able to make the date I proposed. Do you guys still want
to have the organizational meeting or just start the scala meetup and
use that as the launching point. If nobody wants to take charge for
the 10/1 meeting, I will cancel it.