Newsletter 4

Noel here with the Underscore newsletter. Two main points this time: Scala Exchange, which you’ll want to attend if you can get to London in December, and some developments in our training courses, including our first public training courses in many months.

Scala Exchange

In the previous newsletter I talked about the diversity program we are running for Scala Exchange. The summary is we are providing assistance for both attendees and speakers who have not been to a Scala conference before. Now the Scala Exchange speaker lineup has been announced we can evaluate how the new speaker portion of the program performed. We have a blog post that details the process we followed and breaks down the numbers. The summary is that people who went via our program we just as likely to be selected as other speakers, and about twenty percent of the conference came via the program. We’re very happy with this result.

We also have a number of Underscore people speaking at Scala Exchange. Miles will be talking about his latest adventures in type astronautics, Richard will discuss our experiences running code reviews for teams adopting Scala, Dave will describe how to model validation logic in Scala, and I will describe how we teach Scala to those new to the language.

If you want to go to Scala Exchange, and haven’t attended a Scala conference before, you are eligible for the support we’re offering for new attendees. More details here.

Training Material

In the very first newsletter I talked about the development of our Essential Scala (or Core Scala, as it was known back then) book. Many months later this process is coming to an end. I’m very happy with how the book is turning out (though it is so much work; I think authors must be slightly insane). The structure of Essential Scala gives beginning Scala programmers a consistent process to follow to produce high quality code. By focusing on a few core ideas we’re able to cover supposedly advanced concepts like monads in an introductory course. The course feedback we’re getting is very good, suggesting attendees really get it.

Being able to spread these ideas wider through publishing the book is something I’m really looking forward to. If you are interested in learning more I will talking about our course structure at Scala Exchange, or you can just sit tight. I’m planning on releasing some preview material to the mailing list when the copy editing nears completion.

We have also started working on book versions of Essential Play and Essential Scalaz. The plan here is to have at least previews available for these books by Scala Exchange. We’ll see what you can do about getting you all a sneak peek at this material before Scala Exchange. No promises here, though.

Public Training Courses

Immediately following Scala Exchange we’re running our first public courses in a long time.

I will be running a one day course on Scalaz. Scalaz is one of those libraries that the more I use, the more I want to use. I now see monads, monoids, and applicatives everywhere in my coding, and I’m hoping in this training course to pass on my knowledge and enthusiasm. Early bird pricing ends Nov 7 so grab a ticket now if you’re interested in attending.

Miles’ is running a one day course on Type Astronautics Shapeless. A big thanks to both Miles and our hosts at the Guardian whose generosity allows us to run this course for free. Tickets all went a picosecond after we announced them, but there is a waitlist for those who missed out.

Functional Finance

We recently helped start the Functional Finance meetup to complement the Functional Media events we have been running for some time. We are always looking out for speakers and hosts for these events; if you are interested do get in touch.

On The Blog

Some of the highlights on the blog include

That’s all for now. I can feel Essential Scala calling to me. Till next time.

Regards,
Noel


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