Racketfest is a time to learn & share what’s great about the Racket programming language and its philosophy of language-oriented programming. The next edition will be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at the Spielfeld coworking space in Berlin, Germany.
Racketfest is Saturday, March 18, 2023 from 9 am to 5 pm (Central European Time) at:
SpielfeldWould you like to present something at Racketfest? Sounds good! There’s plenty of room. Just complete this form and we’ll get back to you soon. Deadline: February 28, 2023. We have enough talks! The call for presentations is closed.
If you would like to nominate a speaker, that’s great! The very same form can be used to do that, too. The organizers will get in touch with nominated speakers and invite them to present. (No guarantees that nominated speakers accept the invitation!) We have enough talks; nominations are no longer being accepted!
We are also looking for lightning talks (5-10 minutes) for our open mic! Perfect for work-in-progress and smaller projects.
At Racketfest, masks are optional. However, if you’re coughing, sneezing, have a runny nose, sore throat or symptoms similar to that of a respiratory tract infection, please do wear a mask while indoors. Surgical masks will be available on-site.
If you know that you’re sick, please consider not coming. Talks will be made available after the conference; your health is more important than Racket! If you can’t come due to illness, we’re happy to reimburse your ticket.
Abstract This talk discusses a prototype work implementing Racket on top of MLIR and LLVM. As an alternative implementation to the current existing implementation (the main Racket implementation, Pycket, etc.) with a focus on speed, and production use of Racket. We’ll discuss the main challenges, where we are at, where do we want to go and how you can help.
Abstract I will be talking about a method I’ve been employing to build native macOS apps by embedding Racket. Specifically, I’ll be talking about the implementation of my latest app, Franz, a native macOS client for Apache Kafka.
Abstract In my research group at Imperial College London, we are developing a Data Management System with unprecedented extensibility as well as bare-metal performance. Usually, extensibility and performance require sacrificing maintainability of the codebase. In my presentation, I will outline how a language-oriented approach allowed us to achieve all three: performance, extensibility and maintainability. Interestingly, much of the system is not implemented in Racket but in C++. However, both the C++ as well as the Racket code follow the language-oriented programming paradigm.
Abstract The read
procedure as it is provided by Racket reads an entire S-expression. But what if your incoming data does not consist of S-expressions? In this talk I’ll walk you through creating your own input-port implementing custom protocol. The implementation will include changing the read semantics. There are a few pitfalls which may seem hard to avoid, but we will deal with them as well. In the second part of the talk, I’ll discuss how custom syntax can help you develop your algorithms. Especially when creating variants of variants (that is not a typo) of procedures implementing certain functionality with slightly different assumptions and outcomes.
Abstract Sketching is a language that enables beginners, artists and kids to make programs that produce images and animations. The inspiration was:
What would Processing look like, if it were written in Racket?
We will see a few examples—and take a look at the implementation.
Abstract Together with Bogdan Popa, we developed congame, the self-proclaimed best software for online economics experiments implemented in Racket. In this talk, I will highlight the features of congame that make it possible to build and design studies fast—and most importantly, to allow study designers to break out, reuse, and mix and match studies and substudies to develop a truly long con.
You’re welcome to eat lunch anywhere you like! There are all sorts of restaurants, cafes, and bistros in the neighborhood.
That said, participants are welcome to join the organizers on a walk to Markthalle Neun, a nearby market hall with a wide range of food stalls. Lunch costs about 10–20 EUR, and cash is the typical way of paying. There’s no need to worry about not speaking German: German speakers will present to help you read the menus and order your food (in many cases you can probably just order in English). Markhalle Neun is about 7–8 minutes away by foot from Spielfeld (view walking directions). The cost of lunch is not included in the ticket.
Abstract We’ll talk about greater integration of Racket and Gentoo Linux systems: Projects, libraries and tools to support the Racket ecosystem as well as the Gentoo Package Manager Specification document.
Abstract Learning Racket can be tough. You’re confronted with a flood of concepts and often it’s hard to tell whether these concepts are something basic you should learn soon or something rather advanced that can wait until later.
Therefore, the Racket glossary sorts concepts into basic, intermediate and advanced categories. Also, individual glossary entries try to show what’s important when starting with Racket versus things you likely won’t need so soon. There are also some tips about how to use or not use a Racket feature. Apart from the glossary content, the talk describes challenges I ran into, the current state of the project and how you can contribute (if you want to :-)).
Abstract Do you like writing #:some-keyword some-keyword
?
Do you like catching arity and keyword errors at run-time only?
Do you like to have to rewrite the default value for dict-ref
when you make a wrapper for it?
Do you like writing wrappers for functions of many arguments and keywords, such as plot
?
If you replied yes to all of these questions, define2
is not for you!
Define2 provides a replacement for define
which it improves upon by providing static signature checks at call sites to catch many arity and keyword errors at compile time, shorter keyword definitions, automatic pass-through of default values and wrapper functions.
Abstract The open mic at the end of Racketfest is a time for lightning talks or other short items. Sound off about whatever Racket-y thing is on your mind. Perfect for presenting work-in-progress, speculative ideas, thoughts about Racket, you name it.
The conference dinner will begin at at 3 Schwestern (view on map), a German restaurant within walking distance of the venue (view walking directions). The dinner menu is in German; some of the attendees can translate for those who don’t speak German. Dishes are about 15–25€. Some vegetarian and vegan options are available. Attendance at the dinner is optional and the cost of dinner is not included in the ticket price. When registering, you’ll be asked whether you intend to come to dinner. We need this information to make a suitable reservation at the restaurant.
Racketfest 2023 is done, so registration is no longer possible.
Racketfest pairs well with BOBKonf, which takes places in Berlin one day earlier (Friday, March 17, 2023).
BOB asks: What if we use the best for a change?
You’ll find BOB to be a pretty Racket-friendly place. When registering for BOB, make sure to indicate that you’ve registered for Racketfest to get a discount! You’ll need to share your Racketfest registration receipt with the BOB organizers. (You did register, right?) See you there!
BOBKonf 2023 is done, so registration is closed.
To help keep costs low and ensure that Racketfest is not overly financially burdensome, consider becoming a Racketfest sponsor. Just go here and pick an amount you think is reasonable. You’ll be contacted separately to discuss how you would like to be thanked at the event (if you don’t want to be anonymous), in addition to being listed here.
The proceedings of Racketfest are expected to take place under the Racket Friendly Environment Policy, with the understanding that the Racketfest organizers, rather than Racket management, are in charge of this event.
Racketfest is organized by Jesse Alama. Questions or comments may be directed to organizers@racketfest.com
. We’re also on Mastodon as @racketfest@types.pl
.