Erik Meijer's "Fundamentalist Functional Programming" talk, Nov 3 @ 7pm in San Francisco

Ivan Tarasov

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Oct 26, 2010, 8:25:24 PM10/26/10

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Erik Meijer (Microsoft Research) is giving his talk “Fundamentalist Functional Programming” at Bay Area Haskell User Group special meeting.

Abstract:

In 1984, John Hughes wrote a seminal paper titled, “Why Functional Programming Matters,” in which he eloquently explained the value of pure and lazy functional programming. Due to the increasing importance of the Web and the advent of many-core machines, in the quarter of a century since the paper was written, the problems associated with imperative languages and their side effects have become increasingly evident.

This talk argues that fundamentalist functional programming-that is, radically eliminating all side effects from programming languages, including strict evaluation-is what it takes to conquer the concurrency and parallelism dragon. Programmers must embrace pure, lazy functional programming “all the way”-with all effects apparent in the type system of the host language using monads.

A radical paradigm shift is the answer, but does that mean that all current programmers will be lost along the way? Fortunately not! By design, LINQ is based on monadic principles, and the success of LINQ proves that the world does not fear the monads.

To visit this talk you don't have to know Haskell, or any functional programming at all. Quite the opposite: the people who have to deal with imperative programming languages in their day jobs are the intended audience for this talk! Nevertheless, those experienced in functional programming should also enjoy this talk, as it will give some insights into how one can argue about functional vs. non-functional paradigms. And at last, Erik is an excellent speaker and his presentations are always very entertaining.

Please bring your friends and colleagues, especially those who are interested in what functional programming is all about, but need a small nudge to start learning about it. Also, please forward this email to those who may be interested in attending.

The meeting is going to take place on Wednesday, November 3 at 7pm at Engine Yard (SoMa, San Francisco):

Engine Yard
500 Third Street, Suite 510
San Francisco, CA 94107

Contact cell (Ivan): 650-762-6644
Host's phone (Larry): 407-718-7665

Street parking is free in San Francisco after 6pm. Please come earlier to ensure you can find a parking spot before the talk starts.

The venue is in walking distance from Caltrain station (8 minutes) and Montgomery/Powell BART (15 minutes). Some people will be driving from South Bay, so if you need a ride, please monitor the follow-up discussion at BA Haskell Google Group <http://groups.google.com/group/bahaskell> (if you want to join the group and have a problem with CAPTCHA answer, please send me a personal message and I will help you).

Please RSVP on Facebook: <http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151517828224808>

or if you prefer RSVP using SurveyMonkey poll: <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MH6CN7W>

If for some reason neither of these work for you, please send me an email directly.

Cheers,

Ivan

Matt Harrington

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Oct 29, 2010, 1:59:53 PM10/29/10

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On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 5:25 PM, Ivan Tarasov <ivan.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Please bring your friends and colleagues, especially those who are interested in what functional programming is all about, but need a small nudge to start learning about it. Also, please forward this email to those who may be interested in attending.
>

Dear Ivan,

I'll list this on SF#'s website (http://www.sfsharp.org). I assume
that's OK. SF# is the local F# user group.

Matt

Ivan Tarasov

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Oct 29, 2010, 2:09:02 PM10/29/10

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Matt,

of course, the more people come, the better!

Ivan

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Matt Harrington

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Nov 2, 2010, 12:13:43 AM11/2/10

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On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 5:25 PM, Ivan Tarasov <ivan.t...@gmail.com> wrote:

Some people will be driving from South Bay, so if you need a ride, please monitor the follow-up discussion at BA Haskell Google Group <http://groups.google.com/group/bahaskell>

A friend of mine is looking to carpool from Mountain View. If you can help, please send me an email and I'll put you guys in touch. He has a car, but doesn't know his way around San Francisco. He can also be a passenger in someone else's car.

Matt

William Tracy

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Nov 2, 2010, 12:20:39 AM11/2/10

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Ask him if he'd like to ride with me. :-)

I'll probably be sneaking out of work (in San Jose) around 5:00--I suspect it will take a couple hours to get to SF with all the commuters on the peninsula. >_<

--
William Tracy
Work: wtr...@cisco.com
Play: afish...@gmail.com
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Internet phone: (707) 206-6441

Vlad Patryshev

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Nov 2, 2010, 1:02:53 AM11/2/10

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I'll be driving back from San Francisco; but not from Bay Area... meaning, Caltrain passengers welcome. :)

-Vlad

Pat Hickey

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Nov 2, 2010, 1:18:36 AM11/2/10

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Hi William,

Can I get a ride with you as well? I work in Sunnyvale near Yahoo (Mathilda/237/101). I will have my car at work but want to avoid driving up, so if swinging by my office isn't convenient I could meet you elsewhere.

Thanks,

Pat

Evan Laforge

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Nov 2, 2010, 1:31:00 AM11/2/10

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I'm also looking for a ride. I'm in Mountain View, at Google. I
could also meet elsewhere if it's more convenient that way...

baguasquirrel

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Nov 2, 2010, 4:24:38 AM11/2/10

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Hey Vlad,

I'll Caltrain up again. Can I come back down with you? I promise to
remember where I parked this time. ;-)

-Arthur

Gauthier Segay

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Nov 2, 2010, 12:30:34 PM11/2/10

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Hi, I just sent to all south bay people here a mail.

Matt thanks again for your helpfulness!

On Nov 1, 10:31 pm, Evan Laforge <qdun...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm also looking for a ride. I'm in Mountain View, at Google. I
> could also meet elsewhere if it's more convenient that way...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 10:18 PM, Pat Hickey <p...@moreproductive.org> wrote:
> > Hi William,
> > Can I get a ride with you as well? I work in Sunnyvale near Yahoo
> > (Mathilda/237/101). I will have my car at work but want to avoid driving up,
> > so if swinging by my office isn't convenient I could meet you elsewhere.
> > Thanks,
> > Pat
>

> > On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 9:20 PM, William Tracy <afishion...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Matt Harrington <mbh.li...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >>> On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 5:25 PM, Ivan Tarasov <ivan.tara...@gmail.com>

> >>> wrote:
>
> >>>> Some people will be driving from South Bay, so if you need a ride,
> >>>> please monitor the follow-up discussion at BA Haskell Google Group
> >>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/bahaskell>
>
> >>> A friend of mine is looking to carpool from Mountain View. If you can
> >>> help, please send me an email and I'll put you guys in touch. He has a car,
> >>> but doesn't know his way around San Francisco. He can also be a passenger
> >>> in someone else's car.
>
> >> Ask him if he'd like to ride with me. :-)
>
> >> I'll probably be sneaking out of work (in San Jose) around 5:00--I suspect
> >> it will take a couple hours to get to SF with all the commuters on the
> >> peninsula. >_<
>
> >> --
> >> William Tracy
> >> Work: wtr...@cisco.com

> >> Play: afishion...@gmail.com

Vlad Patryshev

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Nov 3, 2010, 1:47:05 AM11/3/10

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Sure! I'll have two more guys on board.

-vlad

2010/11/2 baguasquirrel <baguas...@gmail.com>

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Thanks,
-Vlad

Matt Harrington

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Nov 4, 2010, 5:59:44 PM11/4/10

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This isn't the same deck that Erik used last night, but some of the
slides are the same: