Difference between revisions of "Hac Boston"

January 21-23, 2012

MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 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 Boston will be held January 21-23, 2012 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. 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-hacboston (freenode)
Mailing list: hackathon@haskell.org

Registration

If you will be attending, please register. Registration is free, and open to everyone. If you like, you can also list yourself as an attendee. Then check out the projects page.

When

January 21-23, 2012 from 2:30-10pm Friday, 9am-10pm Saturday, and 9am-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 20th 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 whiteboard available.

Location

Check out the Google map for info on relevant locations. More information about the room will be forthcoming.

Getting to the Boston area

Air

Logan International Airport (BOS) is the closest major airport. T. F. Green Airport (PVD) in Providence is another option, with a rail connection to Boston.

Train

From most points, take Amtrak to South Station, station code (BOS). From certain points in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, take MBTA commuter rail, which arrives at South Station or North Station.

Google map.

Bus

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

Without a car

MBTA operates the trains and busses in the Boston area. Fares are listed on their website.

You can also get a CharlieTicket (or CharlieCard) at most stops.

Walking is always an option. Cambridge is a very walkable city.

From the airport

You can take the Silver Line to South Station and then take the T from South Station to Kendall Station.
Walking is probably not an option.

Keegan McAllister Style

Bring a multitool.
Exit security, make an immediate right. Enter the janitorial wing of the airport. Find the third from the right window.
Quickly remove the screws on the air duct immediately next to it. Crawl through to luggage handling.
Navigate the maze of conveyor belts and machinery. Do not fall.
Exit via the luggage pickup conveyor belt.
Exit via the nearest door. Take the Blue Line subway towards Bowdoin. Ride on top.
Do not get off at Government Center Station. Directly ransfer to the Green Line towards E - Heath Street by jumping from train to train.
Get off at Prudential Station. Do not let yourself be seen.
Climb a nearby fire escape. Parkour to 111 Huntington Ave. You will need a zipline. Possibly several. Alternatively, fight your way through security on the ground floor and take the elevator. If it's not at the ground, climb the shaft. It's faster.
Enter ClariFI through the window. Disregard the screams of terror.
Find Edward Kmett. Beat him up and take his keys.
Drive to MIT. Find directions on Google Maps.

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

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

Preparations

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 Edward Kmett at (857)244-1001.

Attendees

See the Attendees page.

Organization

The organizers of Hac Boston are:

Edward Kmett (ekmett)
Edward Yang (ezyang)

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 * Do not get off at Government Center Station. Directly ransfer to the Green Line towards E - Heath Street by jumping from train to train.
 * Get off at Prudential Station. Do not let yourself be seen.
-* Climb a nearby fire escape. Parkour to 111 Huntington Ave. You will need a zipline. Possibly several.
+* Climb a nearby fire escape. Parkour to 111 Huntington Ave. You will need a zipline. Possibly several. Alternatively, fight your way through security on the ground floor and take the elevator. If it's not at the ground, climb the shaft. It's faster.
 * Enter ClariFI through the window. Disregard the screams of terror.
 * Find Edward Kmett. Beat him up and take his keys.