Re: [Caml-list] [ANN] First OCaml hacking session in Belgium -- 1-2 July

[Danny Willems <contact@danny-willems.be>]

Please comment on discourse [1] to have only one thread.

[1] 
https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ocaml-hacking-session-in-belgium-1-2-july/374

On 06/07/2017 11:14 PM, Danny Willems wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I'm glad to announce and invite you to the first OCaml/Reason 
> (Compiler) Hacking
> Session in Belgium which will be the first week-end of July (1-2 July) 
> in my
> appartment (yes, in my appartment for the moment. I hope I will have
> a bigger place later). The registration are opened here[2]. The full 
> location
> will be given later. If you have any problem to come, we can find a 
> solution if
> you come in Brussels, don't worry about that. For info, you have to take
> the train from Brussels to come and it lasts 1 hour. I will take you 
> to the
> station.
>
> The event is opened 24/24 and the entire week-end. You can come the
> entire week-end or only one day or few hours. If you want to stay to 
> sleep, I
> can host around 5 people (just take a sleeping bag). Just tell me if 
> you come.
>
> Thanks OCamlLabs for offering OCaml stickers to all participants!
>
> ### Motivation of the event.
>
> I wrote an article on my blog[1] some weeks ago about the idea of 
> organizing some
> hacking events (specially about OCaml/Reason) in Belgium.
> Since last year, I learnt and had some interesting experiences in the 
> OCaml
> community and I'm still more and more interested in collaborating and 
> meeting other
> OCaml developers I speak with on Twitter and GitHub or by email.
>
> The main purpose of this event is to meet other people sharing the same
> interests than me and sharing cultures and knowledge.
>
> ### Subjects
>
> The subjects of this first event will be very large and will depend on 
> coming
> people. The only thing I would like to keep in mind is <b>hacking</b>. 
> Hack
> for me is discovering and understanding new subjects and build 
> something new or
> fix some issues. I hope other hackers like me, with the same mindset, 
> will be
> interested in this event and will come.
>
> The (non-exhaustive) list of subjects is:
>
> - hack on OCaml compiler. It can be fix some junior issues
>   (https://caml.inria.fr/mantis/my_view_page.php), understand the type 
> system,
>   improve it, learn how type systems work, improve front-end, propose 
> some
>   useful syntactic sugar, etc.
>
> - hack on Reason front-end compiler. Reason changes the syntax of 
> OCaml by
>   giving a syntax more friendly to people coming from other
>   languages like JavaScript. Reason community also builds very 
> interesting tools
>   to interact with React or JavaScript world.
>
> - hack Ocsigen. Ocsigen is a very interesting web framework and maybe 
> the most
>   advanced web framework in terms of new ideas and concepts. The core 
> team is
>   very small and doesn't have a lot of time to develop a lot of new 
> features. As
>   there are not a lot of core developers, Ocsigen lacks some useful 
> features
>   present in most web framework. The documentation and the website 
> must be
>   updated and lots of issues must be fixed.
>
> - hack on opam. opam is the main and the most used package manager for 
> OCaml.
>   The release of opam 2.0 is coming soon and we can look after some 
> last issues.
>
> - hack on Mirage. In the world of unikernels, Mirage becomes popular 
> and a
>   subject I would like to learn.
>
> ### About me
>
> I will be able to help in the first three subjects.
>
> - About the OCaml compiler, I work at INRIA for several months and I 
> built typing and subtyping
> algorithms based on the type system DOT for first-class modules in 
> OCaml. I
> think I will able to help for the type system and the front end. About 
> multicore
> or ASM code generation, I'm not an expert and don't have a deep 
> knowledge about
> it.
> - About the Reason front-end compiler. I have some experience in 
> lexing and
>   parsing.
> - About the Ocsigen project, I work on Ocsigen Start for several 
> months and had
>   some experience in Eliom.
>
> About the two last, I don't have any hacking knowledge (I never use 
> Mirage, but
> it's on my TODO list).
>
> ### About drinks and foods.
>
> I think drinks and food will be offered, to be confirmed depending on the
> number of participants (don't trust the article on my blog). A special 
> beer will be offered to all
> participants (We are in Belgium, it's mandatory =)).
>
> ### Registration.
>
> You can register on the Eventbrite link. Please register if you are 
> only sure to come.
> If you have a better solution than Eventbrite, tell me (I don't think 
> Eventbrite is a good solution but I'm not an expert). The event is 
> entirely free. If Eventbrite asks you to pay something, refuse and 
> contact me.
>
> ### About next events.
>
> I really want to create a community in Belgium around functional 
> programming and specially about OCaml and Reason. I would like to 
> create more hacking sessions. If you want to contribute or help to the 
> organization of such event (by hosting for example), contact me.
> I hope some institutions or companies will be interested in such events.
>
> [1] 
> https://blog.danny-willems.be/ocamlreason-compiler-hacking-sessions-first-announcement/
> [2] 
> https://www.eventbrite.fr/e/billets-ocaml-hacking-session-belgium-35217611825
>

-- 
Danny Willems
https://danny-willems.be
@dwillems42
https://github.com/dannywillems