Obscure Programming Languages Exploration Group
A couple of days ago @niclasnilsson and I started talking about starting an Obscure[1] Programming Languages Exploration Group here in Gothenburg. Earlier today we met for lunch together with @jorgen99 to discuss how to go about it.
There’s nothing much decided yet about form or content but a few things are worth mentioning anyway. Mostly because I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to go about this.
First of all, we agreed on using GitHub for all the code that we write.
Secondly, we will try to set up a number of problems that are large enough to make a decent code base (we’re thinking slightly larger than a typical code kata) but small enough to be possible to solve alone in a few weeks time without super human powers.
Last, but not least, most of the work will be done homework-style, meaning that we won’t spend much time at the meetings actually writing code. Instead we will focus on discussing differences and similarities between solutions and languages.
There are a few reasons, hopes and assumptions behind these choices:
It allows people to join the fun from anywhere. All you need is a GitHub account and to promise to commit often and to take extra special care when writing your commit messages. We have this idea that if we write really, really detailed commit messages describing not just what has changed but also why and how you think about going about your solution, then going through the commit log should be a decent substitute for attending a meeting where that solution is presented.
Also, since GitHub allows comments on commits, the most interesting discussions about the code won’t necessarily happen at a meeting.
And, if the author doesn’t understand your questions and suggestions or, if you feel that code speaks louder than words, you can fork the repository and implement the solution that you think the author should have done in the first place!
Today we decided to meet again (the three of us) on the 23rd of June and at that time have solutions to a Reversi problem (I’ll post details when I get them) in Scala (Jörgen), Ioke (Niclas) and Prolog (Johan).
And that’s about as far as we’ve discussed things. So. What’s wrong with the above? What will so obviously not work? Which of our assumptions and hopes are completely ridiculous? What else would it take to make the above work for you?
Comments, thoughts, criticism, questions and suggestions welcome.
[1] Obscure might not be the most descriptive word for what we’re looking for. We’re not that interested in languages designed to be obscure, rather languages that haven’t gotten the attention they deserve for some reason or other.
