3 ms·

Being a Resident at the Recurse Center

46 points by luu 11y ago

shireboy 11y ago
...Is like being a resident at the Recurse Center.
danharaj 11y ago
I know quite a few recursers and they're all lovely people and talented programmers. Once I can arrange for a months-long gap in my work life I plan to apply.
lincolnq 11y ago
Tweaked the structure of a functional-style space invaders game to be cleaner and more actually functional. Major insight: moving triggers for sound effects from deep inside the game logic to a separate piece of code that compared the state before and after the frame, and played the appropriate sounds based on that. Question for the functional programming pros here: would you rather build it this way, or with a writer monad? The writer monad seems like less code overall, and keeps the side effect generation code near the code which generates the sound.
- danharaj 11y ago
  I do Haskell as my job. In general I would much rather have a function in the vein of `DeltaState -> [SoundEffects]` than another layer of effects. If the sounds aren't dependent on by what means the state changed, but only on what the change in state is, then you may as well factor out the sound logic. Conversely, since I want to keep the program well factored I endeavor to separate concerns into pure computations as much as possible and minimize effects.
kaosjester 11y ago
It's recur, not recurse. Would you incurse during an incursion?
- RickS 11y ago
  https://www.recurse.com/ https://www.recurse.com/
- danharaj 11y ago
  My functions recurse, they do not recur. I have only heard 'recurse' in this context, and it's not an uncommon colloquialism. It's at least common enough to be noted by the OED. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/recurse http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_eng...
tostitos1979 11y ago
Not sure if the author of the blog post is around but I am curious how you applied for the week long stint. I approached these guys (prior to the name change I think) and didn't get a clear answer for how one gets into the short-term residency program (my memory is fuzzy but I seem to recall they said it was invite-only at that time). Wish there was something like this in the Bay area. We have cool communities like Hacker Dojo and meetups, but I quite like the idea of taking a week or two off from work and getting deeper into technical topics alongside other experienced developers.
- nicholasjbs 11y ago
  (RC cofounder here.) Sorry to hear our previous answer wasn't clear. Yes, residencies are an invite-only thing, however, everyone is welcome to apply to attend RC :) We recently updated our User's Manual (see: https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-residents https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-residents) with more info about residents, including what we look for and that they're selected via invitation (typically after being suggested by current members of our community). I hope this helps!

46 points by luu 11y ago

...Is like being a resident at the Recurse Center.

I know quite a few recursers and they're all lovely people and talented programmers. Once I can arrange for a months-long gap in my work life I plan to apply.

lincolnq 11y ago

Tweaked the structure of a functional-style space invaders game to be cleaner and more actually functional. Major insight: moving triggers for sound effects from deep inside the game logic to a separate piece of code that compared the state before and after the frame, and played the appropriate sounds based on that. Question for the functional programming pros here: would you rather build it this way, or with a writer monad? The writer monad seems like less code overall, and keeps the side effect generation code near the code which generates the sound.

danharaj 11y ago
I do Haskell as my job. In general I would much rather have a function in the vein of `DeltaState -> [SoundEffects]` than another layer of effects. If the sounds aren't dependent on by what means the state changed, but only on what the change in state is, then you may as well factor out the sound logic. Conversely, since I want to keep the program well factored I endeavor to separate concerns into pure computations as much as possible and minimize effects.

kaosjester 11y ago

It's recur, not recurse. Would you incurse during an incursion?

RickS 11y ago
https://www.recurse.com/ https://www.recurse.com/
danharaj 11y ago
My functions recurse, they do not recur. I have only heard 'recurse' in this context, and it's not an uncommon colloquialism. It's at least common enough to be noted by the OED. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/recurse http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_eng...

tostitos1979 11y ago

Not sure if the author of the blog post is around but I am curious how you applied for the week long stint. I approached these guys (prior to the name change I think) and didn't get a clear answer for how one gets into the short-term residency program (my memory is fuzzy but I seem to recall they said it was invite-only at that time). Wish there was something like this in the Bay area. We have cool communities like Hacker Dojo and meetups, but I quite like the idea of taking a week or two off from work and getting deeper into technical topics alongside other experienced developers.

nicholasjbs 11y ago
(RC cofounder here.) Sorry to hear our previous answer wasn't clear. Yes, residencies are an invite-only thing, however, everyone is welcome to apply to attend RC :) We recently updated our User's Manual (see: https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-residents https://www.recurse.com/manual#sec-residents) with more info about residents, including what we look for and that they're selected via invitation (typically after being suggested by current members of our community). I hope this helps!