AngloHaskell/2007

On June the 9th, Microsoft Research sent out an advert for job. This job involves maintaining the Glorious Glasgow Compiler, and created quite a stir in the Haskell community: It's the job we've all been hoping for! After a while the CV's were sent, and Microsoft Research has now invited several Haskellers for an interview at Cambridge, UK.

This event has been recognized as a great opportunity for a Haskell gathering and we hereby invite all Haskellers (and other cool people) to a fun couple of days in Cambridge.

Date:

• Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th of August.

Contacts:

Contact person: Shae Erisson - +46 70 3915045

Local contact: Ganesh Sittampalam - 07968 253467 (+44 7968 253467 from a non-UK phone)

If you're coming into Cambridge by train and want to join in the fun, call Shae at the number above.

Travel information:

Here are MSR's directions for getting to their site: http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/visitmsr/cambridge/directions.aspx

Here is (hopefully) a Google Earth file showing the location: Media:Microsoft_Research,_Cambridge.kmz

They are rather unhelpful about methods of getting there once in Cambridge other than taxi. If you do take a taxi and the driver doesn't know where it is, tell him or her to drive down Madingley Road and it's the first left after "Clerk Maxwell Rd".

If you want to take a bus, I (Ganesh) believe numbers 4 and 14 go there from the city centre. I might be able to provide more info about getting them if you prod me...

From the railway station to get to the city centre, you can either walk (about 20 mins), or take a bus. To walk, go straight down the road facing you when you come out of the station, bear right when the road ends at some traffic lights, and keep walking straight for quite a while until you reach a pedestrianised bit, at which point you are in the centre. To take a bus, get on any bus that arrives and ask the driver if it's going to the centre. Some won't be, so make sure you do ask!

Attendees:

Definite attendees:

• Simon Peyton-Jones and Simon Marlow (Friday only)
• Lemmih (will arrive the 2nd and leave the 6th)
• PhilippaCowderoy (barring emergencies, can hang around)
• ShaeErisson (can stay for a couple of days)
• Peter Nuttall (am around from the 26 July onwards, baring the 3rd when I'm in ipswitch)
• genneth (am in Cambridge anyway)
• GaneshSittampalam (Heffalump) (for at least some of the time)
• Neil Mitchell - ndm (can come for the 5th, if I can have some floor space)
• Liyang HU
• Robin Green (greenrd)

Possible attendees:

• dcoutts (depends on the date)
• xerox (depends on the date)
• GK (depends on the date; it'd be great to meet some of the wonderful Haskell community folks)
• EdwinBrady (depends on the date; would probably stay a couple of days)
• vincenz (depends on the date, preferably a day or two, partially weekend)
  • Would need details in advance to reserve ticket for EUROSTAR
• Paul Johnson (paj) (paul at cogito dot org dot uk)
  • Almost certain. Looking for crash space or pointer to nearby cheap hotel

Lodging:

• Are there places we can crash, rooms we can share?
  • Bring your own sleeping bag, if using one of the crash spaces below!
  • dcoutts has offered floor space to a few, however, there may not be any left.
  • I (psnl) have 14 sq metres of floor crash space in a college.

Programme:

• Is there a more concrete plan? What exactly are we doing?
  • Planning is taking place on IRC: #anglohaskell on irc.freenode.net
  • Talks:
    • edwinb might "introduce dependent types then talk about [his] pet theorem prover"
    • greenrd is preparing a talk about simulating dependent types in Haskell, and using them for "categorical programming" (programming based on category theory) and proving properties of code
    • Lemmih could give a short talk on breakpoints in GHC
    • Liyang is prepared to wave his arms in the air while not making much sense about idiomatic programming (and not just the applicative idioms you've witnessed previously...) with an additional helping of memoisation.
    • Paul Johnson may give a talk (details TBC)
    • Ganesh Sittampalam might talk about recent Darcs work involving patch theory
  • Is there anything other than talks for Friday while we're still at MSR?
  • We're expecting to hit a pub or two after MSR before we all find our crashspace?
    • No doubt there're possibilities while at a pub other than beer and chat?
    • There's been mention of Go?
    • And other games that take less time to learn to play?
    • Do we have enough people who think they know the rules to get the Chairman's Game going? Can we avoid it turning turing complete?
  • some kind of coding / pair programming? Maybe on Saturday when we're not going to be at MSR (we haven't figured out where we will be yet)
• We don't know what we're doing on Saturday yet!
  • Perhaps colonise a café in the morning 'til everyone's reasonably awake, then head for a pub or similar with wi-fi (perhaps the connection is less important?) for coding and/or more social geeking as per everyone's taste?

Miscellaneous:

• Please could everyone bring or make a nametag that identifies you by your real name and/or IRC name.