Hac Boston

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

Hac Boston will be held August 1 to 3, 2014 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Building 46, 3rd Floor Atrium. 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!

Not to be confused with HAC Boston.

Registration

We have room for 80+ people. If you are thinking about attending, please register. Registration is free, and open to everyone. If you like, you can also list yourself as an attendee. Then you might want to visit

• the projects page.

• the IRC channel: #haskell-hacboston (freenode)

• the mailing list: hackathon@haskell.org

Dates and Times

The hackathon will run from August 1 to 3, 2014, at the following times:

Date	Day	Times
Aug 1	Friday	17:00 to 22:00
Aug 2	Saturday	09:00 to 22:00
Aug 3	Sunday	09:00 to 17:00

There will probably be some talks Saturday afternoon.

Although the hackathon won't officially kick off until 5:00pm on Friday, you are welcome to arrive Friday morning if it makes for easier travel.

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.

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 whiteboard available.

Maps

We have a Google map regarding transportation and places to stay, and another with points of interest around Cambridge.

The hackathon itself is in the atrium of Building 46, on the third floor. We will try to keep the doors open, but if you do get lost or locked out, call Greg (9087978281).

Getting to the Boston area

See also Wikitravel.

By air

Logan International Airport (BOS) is the closest major airport. From BOS you can take the Silver Line SL1 bus to Boston South Station.

T. F. Green Airport (PVD) in Providence is another option, with a (infrequent) rail connection to Boston South Station.

By train

Amtrak serves Boston South Station, station code BOS. Service from cities in the Northeast is available on both the Northeast Regional train and the marginally faster Acela Express. These trains also stop at Boston Back Bay (BBY). South Station is the better choice if taking transit to MIT, but Back Bay is closer for walking.

From certain points in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, you can take MBTA commuter rail, which arrives at South Station or North Station.

By bus

Boston is served by many bus companies. From New York City, reasonable and cheap options include Megabus, BoltBus, and Lucky Star.

Getting to MIT

By human power

Cambridge is a very walkable and bikeable city. It is feasible to walk or bike to MIT from many points in Cambridge, Boston, and Brookline.

By public transit

MIT is close to Kendall Station on the Red Line subway. The Red Line connects to Boston South Station (and its rail and bus terminals) and the rest of the MBTA rapid transit network. MIT is also served by MBTA buses. Google Maps can plan rail and bus trips.

From the Kendall stop on the Red Line, you will need to make your way to Building 46. You'll exit the subway station on Main St, and you want to walk West for a few blocks. For reference, the Marriott and other large buildings are arranged around a courtyard north of Main St. Building 46 is the large boat-shaped building at the corner of Main St. and Vassar St.. Take the entrance on either Main St. or Vassar St. and proceed to the third floor. The local inhabitants are friendly and will be happy to point you in the right direction if you get lost.

See also the line drawn on the transportation map.

By car

Parking possibilities include:

• The Marriott
• Outside of Building 46, Vassar St.

If it's after 5PM on Friday, you might try the Hayward lot.

Accommodation

We're still actively investigating what kinds of bulk deals we can get on hotels in the area.

There are a number of nearby hotels suggested on the MIT web site. Boston has several hostels as well.

There may also be some local residents willing to accommodate a few attendees. See the attendees page for more info.

Organizers

The organizers of Hac Boston are:

• Edward Kmett (ekmett)
• Greg Hale (imalsogreg)
• Josh Cough (joshcough)

For any questions or emergencies, you can always call Edward Kmett at +1 857 244 1001.