F# Coding Breakfasts and Lunches: let's code together!
21 Sep 2014If you have ever come across my blog before, it will probably come as no surprise if I tell you that I enjoy coding with F# tremendously. However, there is another reason why I enjoy F#, and that is the Community aspect. One thing we have been trying to do in San Francisco is to build a group that is inclusive, and focused on learning together.
This is why we started the coding dojos a while back: one of our members mentioned that while he was convinced from talks that F# was a good language, presentations were not quite enough to help him get over the hump and feel comfortable coding, so we started sessions completely focused on writing code in groups to solve fun problems. This has been an amazingly fun experience.
During a discussion with my sister last year, we ended up talking about gender inequality, a topic that is also dear to my heart – and, in her great wisdom, she made the following remark: scheduling a meeting at 6:00 PM is possibly the worst time you could pick for a mom. In hindsight, this is totally obvious; it also goes to show that everyone has blind spots. For that matter, it applies more broadly: choosing to go coding after work instead of going back home is not feasible for everyone. So I thought, why not try meetings in completely different time slots?
At the same time, I came across the Alt.NET Paris group (which is pretty awesome); one thing they do is run Coding Breakfasts, which they expanded into Coding Mojitos, and Coding Candies. I really liked the idea, and adapted it a bit for F# Coding Breakfast.
Here is the format we have been following so far:
- If you want people to carve out a bit of time in a working day, respecting their time is crucial. So the format is strict: start on time, code in pairs for 45 minutes, show-and-tell for 15 minutes, and then, off you go!
- In order to be able to code something from scratch in 45 minutes, the problem needs to be reasonably small, and accessible for beginners. We have been working initially on some of the 99 ocaml problems, and lately settled on Project Rosalind, which people seemed to find more interesting.
- Some of the early feedback I got was that knowing the problems in advance would help, especially for beginners – so every time we pick and announce two problems. If people want to work on other stuff, that’s fine, too :). As an illustration, here is how the current prototypical event invite looks like.
- One of the nice aspects is that the logistics requirements are virtually zero. Essentially all you need is a couple of tables, and ideally some wifi. In San Francisco, we have been meeting in a bakery. People show up around 8:15 in the morning, grab coffee and pastries, and start coding. No projector, no speaker – just open your laptop and go.
- While the equipment of the venue is not that important, location matters. If you want to reach people before they go to work, it makes sense to find a place that is close to offices. In San Francisco, we are meeting downtown, close to public transportation.
- I shamelessly borrowed another idea, this time from the NashFP group. They have a GitHub organization repository, which makes it possible for everyone to share their code, see what others have been doing, and potentially reuse bits of code.
So far, we have had 4 breakfasts in San Francisco, and the response has been very positive. It’s usually a smaller crowd than the evenings, but different people show up, and it has a different energy than evening sessions. Minds are still fresh (well, most minds – I have a hard time booting my brain before 9 AM), there is light outside…
Fun times tackling @ProjectRosalind problems at #fsharp breakfast this morning with @dplattsf & crew! #fb http://t.co/Y6RmTbt3bb
— Mathias Brandewinder (@brandewinder) March 12, 2014
The next step in San Francisco is to try out different time slots. After all, mornings are also not convenient for all, so this week, we will have our first F# Coding Lunch, hosted at Terrace Software (thanks Clayton!). Same general idea, but, you guessed it, 12:00 to 1:00. We’ll see how that goes!
So if you are considering starting or developing an F# community in your area, I encourage you to try that out! It is tremendously easier to setup than an evening presentation (you don’t really need a venue or a speaker), it has potential to be owned or replicated by multiple people (my dream is to see regular F# breakfasts everywhere in the Bay Area), and I suspect it would make a great way to introduce F# in a company as well…