making apps, making webs.

(Last night I went to the London clojure dojo.) (. javax.swing.JOptionPane (showMessageDialog nil (reduce str ["Hello" "London" "Clojure" "Dojo"]))) This dojo was hosted by @otfrom and @rrees at the ThoughtWorks offices (many thanks to them). They put on a nice spread of quiche and sandwiches. Here's some of the quiche... which was nicer than it looks in this photo.) ( -- quiche picture credit to @otfrom (used without permission ;)) There was a github repo setup https://github.com/ldnclj/ footpad before the session with the code from previous weeks. After grazing, and drinking of softdrinks - the night started with a mini talk on cake (the tasty build tool + enhanced repl(interpreter) + kitchen sink for clojure) by the co-organiser of the dojo ( Robert Rees from ThoughtWorks ) . A programmer from Deutsche bank was there recruiting clojure programmers, and getting involved in the dojo too. It kind of reminded me of python in the ear...

Last night I went to the London python dojo at the Fry IT offices. The night started with pizza, beer, and nerdy chats with everyone. Then two lightning talks. The first by @tomviner (Tom), on some funny and useful python modules. `pip install oo && python -moo` Python goes moo (dad joke). `pip install e && python -me 1+2` Next up was @otfrom (Bruce). He has a cunning plan to work on an engine that could be used later in a cross language dojo to display a game world. @otfrom is trying to see if other language dojos in london are interested in having a bot war tournament in the future. So far the clojure dojo, and perhaps the scala dojo are interested in participating. @otfrom also announced the London dojos mailing list at: http://groups.google.com/group/london-dojos A group for people interested in programming dojos in london (not just python). Then 30 of us took an open source game from pygame.org , forked it and hacked on it! I brought along a big bag of joy...

Here's the london dojo google calendar for much of 2010. More details, and signup here: http://ldnpydojo.eventwax.com/5th-london-python-code-dojo/ . The idea is to practice, learn and teach python skills.

In Switzerland. Had fun visiting an old friend and his new girl friend. Lots of snow came whilst we're here which was fun. However, the planes didn't like it, and they got cancelled. So going back to London today instead(if the planes work).

Arrived back in London a few days ago, after a month living in Berlin. I really enjoyed Berlin, and thought about staying there for longer... but in the end decided against it for now. Would really like to visit in the summer, when it's apparently quite a different place! Some pictures from Berlin Finding the bustle and life on the streets of London quite refreshing. I think I'll be based in London for the next six months or so at this point(probably longer). Going to the london python dojo again on the 10th. This is an interesting format for a get together. People take turns pair programming with a projector, whilst the rest of the people in the room offer comments. This time there's going to be a few short interactive presentations too. It was nice meeting python people from around London last time. Fry-it are the hosts, who offer their office, pizza(+salad) and beer(+wine) for everyone at each dojo.