Hac φ

May 21-23, 2010

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

About

The Haskell Hackathon is an international, grassroots collaborative coding festival with a simple focus: build and improve Haskell libraries, tools, and infrastructure.

Hac φ will be held May 21-23 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It is open to all -- you do not have to be a Haskell guru to attend. All you need is a basic knowledge of Haskell, a willingness to learn, and a project you're excited to help with (or a project of your own to work on).

There will be lots of hacking, some talks, good food, and, of course, fun!

IRC channel: #haskell-hacphi (freenode)
Mailing list: hackathon@haskell.org

News

April 7: A few details are still being finalized, but expect an official announcement with full details today!

Registration

If you will be attending, please register. If you like, you can also list yourself as an attendee. Then check out the projects page. We're in a slightly different space than last year and may have to cap attendance, so register early!

When

May 21-23, from 2:30-10pm Friday, 10am-10pm Saturday, and 10am-5pm Sunday. There will probably be some talks Saturday afternoon.

Although the hackathon won't officially kick off until 2:30pm on Friday, you are welcome to arrive the evening of Thursday the 23rd or Friday morning if it makes for easier travel. If enough people are around and interested, some sort of activity could be arranged for Thursday evening and/or Friday morning.

Talks

If you'd be interested in giving a short (15-20 minute) talk, put your name and the subject of your talk on the talks page. There will be a projector and blackboard available.

Location

Check out the Google map for info on relevant locations.

Getting to Philadelphia

Air

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is the closest major airport.

Train

Take Amtrak to 30th Street Station (station code PHL), which is just a few blocks from Levine Hall; see the Google map.

Car

UPenn's admissions office has driving directions that take you right into the center of campus.

Intra-city Transportation

The Hackathon will be held in room 315 of Levine Hall. See Penn's searchable campus map for more on this location.

Without a car

SEPTA operates the trains, busses, and trolleys in Philadelphia. The fare is $2 per trip, exact change (so save up your $1s before you come). You can also get tokens (which are cheaper, and don't require exact change to buy) at most big stops. Their site is a little bit unfriendly; I recommend using the Trip Planner to find out what routes to take, then consult the route schedules to find out how often those lines run, so you know how flexible your trip will be.
There are about a dozen cab companies serving various parts of the city; Google will point the way. You will likely be within Center City and University City (sometimes called West Philadelphia) for the duration of your visit. Hailing cabs is also theoretically possible, but I would recommend giving the radio dispatcher a call if you want to take a cab.
Walking is always an option. Philadelphia is a very walkable city.

From the airport

There is a SEPTA Airport Express Train (R1) every half hour; the fare is $7 if you pay after you board, and $5 if you pay before you board. If you figure out how to pay before you board, let me know, I've been trying to find out for almost a year now. If coming directly to the hackathon, get off at University City station and walk a block west and a block north; otherwise, go one stop further to 30th Street Station to connect to other forms of transportation.
A cab from the airport to Center City or University City is a flat $28.50 fee (without tip).
The PHL website has a list of rental car companies. UPenn's admissions office has driving directions that take you right into the center of campus.
Walking is probably not an option.

With a car

There is some parking on-campus, as well as street-parking for $1/hour. To help with interpreting the maps below, Levine Hall is located at 34th and Walnut.

The Google map also highlights the public parking locations near the hackathon; the fee is about $13/day.

While you're planning your route, keep in mind that while the city is laid out mostly in a grid, about half of the roads are one-way.

Accommodation

There are some hotel suggestions here and in the "Hotels" section here. There may also be some local residents willing to accommodate a few attendees. See the attendees page for more info.

Map

Here is a Google map with relevant locations marked.

Preparations

What to bring

A laptop
Wireless card if necessary. There will be wireless network access. Ethernet access will probably not be available. If you really need ethernet access, please contact the organizers.
Mobile phone

Before you arrive

Pick out a couple of projects to work on and familiarise yourself with them, or bring your own project(s) to work on. See the projects page for a list of projects people plan to work on. If you plan to work on your own project, be sure to list it on the projects page and set up a public repository if you don't already have one, so that other people can help hack on your project.
Install an up to date Haskell toolchain: at least ghc and cabal-install. If you don't already have these installed (or need to install from scratch on the laptop you're bringing), the easiest way is probably to install the Haskell Platform.

Contact

For any questions or emergencies, you can always call Brent Yorgey at (202)-531-8646, Daniel Wagner at (650)-353-1788 or Chris Casinghino at (603)-860-5301.

Attendees

See the Attendees page.

Organization

The organizers of Hac φ:

Daniel Wagner (dmwit)
Brent Yorgey (byorgey)
Chris Casinghino (ccasin)

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