[LispSea] starting point

[Daniel Pezely]

This is for those interested in Lisp programming in Seattle:

As a group, we need to start somewhere, and I'm putting a stake in the 
sand.  My approach is to keep things simple but not simplistic.


For the time being, the home page is:

	http://wiki.alu.org/lispsea


The purpose of this group is to
  "promote, nurture & expand Lisp in Seattle".


But what does that mean?

	By promote, I mean selling Lisp to businesses-- not a specific tool 
chain but the idea that Lisp is perhaps more appropriate than other 
mainstream options available.

In order to promote Lisp, this involves contacting various employers in 
the area to see if they're currently using Lisp and if not, find out why 
and address those issues.

Think of it as illustrating the need so those of you who wish to do 
consulting have an easier path.


	To nurture: semi-formal sessions will be offered to present and discuss 
different aspects of Lisp.  This includes specific tools.

I'll be the focal point for the time being and will lead the early sessions.

While I'll be the default presenter initially, my personal tools are 
common lisp.  Where other Lisps are concerned, either someone else can 
present to the group, or if too shy, show me, and I'll present the 
topic.  I'm always open to learning...


	For expanding Lisp, this applies to more than just the Seattle metro 
area.  LispNYC recently announced that they're providing mentors for a 
few projects within Google's Summer of Code.  While it's too early to 
really worry about the next one, let's entertain the possibility.

Additionally, we expand Lisp by talking about it to others and having 
facts readily available.  This means as a community, doing our part such 
as contributing to the new FAQ effort-- which needs help!

Finally, we can expand use of Lisp by contributing to ancillary efforts 
like the "Lisp movies" that demonstrate some unique quality of a 
particular library or updating documentation where it might be lacking.

So this element is about more than just Seattle.


	Obvious questions begin with how, when, who and so on.  First: how.

I'm looking into reserving a classroom at Seattle Central Community 
College, even though this group has no direct affiliation with any school.

Regarding the classroom-- think of it as complimentary to SeaFunc 
(functional programming; see the above URL), which meets in a tavern. 
Rather than make you choose one format over the other, you have the 
option of either or preferably both.

I've toyed with the idea of formally creating a free course through the 
UW Experimental College or something similar, but let's try a looser 
model first.

The objective for the classroom type of venue is to convey information 
so we all can expand our knowledge.  (clean sound, video projector, etc) 
I've found taverns to be difficult when the group grows beyond single 
digit counts.  ...and yes, I'm planning that by autumn, we'll have those 
numbers.

As with other group meetings, the format would probably begin with 
social time then move into a specific topic for 20-60 minutes and ending 
with more conversation time.  (We'll look into sponsorship for the 
obligatory stack of pizzas to precede presentation.)


When: Once a location is arranged, we'll set a date.  There is a 
possibility that the first meeting could be the last week of June but 
probably July.  Summer always introduces conflicts on people's time, but 
this is an opportunity to get the bugs out.  (As with the Vancouver 
meetings, I'll record my sessions, so people won't miss anything.)


Who: I plan to present at the first few sessions.  This isn't so much to 
set the pace or tone but to ensure that there is content and to build 
momentum.


Topics: While there is LispBox, which does a good job of getting you 
started, my first presentation will be to move beyond the learning mode. 
  Likewise, since installing a free common lisp system involves more 
than extracting a tar file or even knowing tweaky 'configure' options, 
the first session will probably be this: MacOSX + sbcl + Emacs + Slime 
with VirtualPC running FreeBSD (aka, fixing the reddit.com model).

A subsequent session might be Apache with mod_lisp (specifically 
different than the web project in Peter Seibel's book, just to give you 
options).


By the way, I'm a Unix systems programmer by trade, and by that, I tend 
to do software systems integration involving a multi-server 
architecture.  For more on my Lisp background, follow the links at the 
above URL.  This gives you somewhat of an idea of where my presentations 
will originate, but of course we're never just the sum of our jobs...


Thank you for participating!
-Daniel