The other day, Andy and I met Jos, an experienced schemer who lives near Barcelona, with the idea of having lunch, talking about Scheme, and create a Scheme Users Group. After a bit of discussion, we agreed on widen the group’s scope, and start what we’re calling Fringe Languages In Barcelona (FLIB). The plan is to conduct periodic meetings with a main presentation followed by some lightning talks (the latter were a complete success at ILC, and we’d like to try and see how they work for us), with as much discussion interleaved as we see fit. We’ll have some refreshments available and, since we’re meeting in the very center of the old city, visits to pubs or a restaurant for dinner and further socializing are to be expected.

As i said, we’re expecting much discussion about Scheme and Lisp, but we’re not ruling out by any means other fine languages. For instance, the talk for the inaugural session (scheduled June 10th17th, 7:30 pm) is entitled The implementation of FUEL, Factor’s Ultimate Emacs Library, and it will include a short introduction to Factor (yes, i am the victim speaker). Jos will come next, the same day, with a lightning talk about PLT Redex. We have free slots for more lighting talks: you are invited not only to come, but to give one if you’re so inclined. This being our first meeting, there will be also some time for logistics and organisation.

So, if you’re near here by then, by all means, come in and join the fun:

Calle del Pi 3 Principal Interior (first floor)
Barcelona

Not really needed, but if you’re thinking about coming, sending me a mail beforehand will help us to be sure that we’ve got enough food and drinks.

We’re looking forward to getting FLIB started, and we’re sure that at least grix more fringers are coming! Don’t miss it!

We are pleased to announce that the book ‘The First 10 Prolog Programming Contests’ can now be downloaded from here. This book contains the (slightly reworked) questions of the first 10 Prolog programming contests, together with an answer for each question. The solutions can also be downloaded from the above webpage.

Hardcopies of this book are still available, and can be obtained by sending an e-mail to bmd at cs dot kuleuven dot be.

cheers,
Bart Demoen, Phuong-Lan Nguyen, Tom Schrijvers, Remko Troncon

And, just to whet your appetite, this is a quote from the book’s preface:

Programming is enormously fun. Fun was indeed our main motivation for starting the series of Prolog Programming Contests in 1994. Ask anybody who ever participated in a Prolog Programming Contest: they loved it! There is a thrill in trying to solve five problems in two hours, crammed in a small room filled with ten or more sweaty teams doing the same. And there is a great satisfaction, unmatched by any other daytime scheduled conference event, when the attempt is even partially successful.

A good place to get started in Prolog is the comp.lang.prolog FAQ. Or, for schemers, solving the problems using kanren (or even micro-kanren) sounds like a lot of fun.