- Monads in Depth - what they are, the underlying mathematics, what they are good for and how to use them in your favorite language
- Reinforcement Learning - Algorithms and Applications in Robotics
- Proof Techniques - a tutorial for Developers
- Vajra - a high performance Lisp for Robotics Programming
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Dev Camp Bangalore
Some folks at my former employer, Thoughtworks, are planning a DevCamp in Bangalore on February 9th, 2008.
This is an excellent idea, well overdue. Barcamps in Bangalore are overrun by people trying to finance the next "social networking" (gag!!) or "web 2.0"(double gag) "startup" by finding some dumb non-technical vc who doesn't know what's going on, photography and movie clubs and so on. And what technical sessions do exist are of the "Introduction to X" variety where X element of { Ruby On Rails, Erlang, Fad-du-jour} mostly cut and pasted from the web.
The Dev Camp web page has these instructions prominently displayed (emphasis mine).
"However, please assume a high level of exposure and knowledge on the part of your audience and tailor your sessions to suit. Avoid 'Hello World' and how-to sessions which can be trivially found on the net. First hand war stories, in-depth analysis of topics and live demos are best."
This should keep the fakes away (touch wood). Also there will be a few participants from Thoughtworks, and if the past is any guide the Thoughtworkers sessions will be well worth listening to.
One of the tenets of a "camp" is that there are no passive participants. Given that this is meant for developers, I hope to attend some high quality sessions. And if I attend, in the spirit of Xcamp,
I'll be presenting too. I will speak on one of
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8 comments:
all the topics look delicious!! Can't you speak on all of them? ;-)
ok, If i have to choose, I'll take Monads. I've never really "got" them.
Oh I have to come to Bangalore! :-(
Could you move to London please? :-) We have nice weather here. It rains all the time :-P
It would be great if you could talk on Monads in Depth. I too never got them and would love to understand them finally.
Ravi, I can understand if Barcamps in Bangalore aren't having the kind of content people like you would be interested in. The content over there is Democratic and I guess the topics that interest you are not the topics that interest the masses.
But you could take a lead initiative to inspire the regular techie to raise his/her bar. To take a plunge in the lake of Algorithms, Maths.. Research. You may or may not find people you can truly connect with (I have spoken to you once, and have been reading your blog off and on), but if you get a gang of 5-10 people moving in that direction, they'll remember you for life. Maybe some of them will assist you with your research as well.
Anyways your life your take, consider it if you think its worthwhile. The future is shaped from small actions taken by men with vision.
Amit Singh
Amit,
no plans to "lead". :-)
All the material on algorithms etc is out there for people who want it. Working with someone who has already taken a few steps on his/her own is one thing. "Leading" people who haven't put any work in is another.
Thanks for the thought anyway :-)
Regards
Interesting topics. Look forward to the session.
I have heard of Monads before !
Gr8 to have a session on it..
Other sessions sound sweet too :)
@Params
Is that a vote for "monads"? I'll be speaking on ONE of the listed topics (or something completely different! :-P that's the good thing about the XCamp meets, you can dynamically decide what , where and when and how you present )
Would love to listen on monads. Wanted to learn that for quite some time, and here is a good opportunity.
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