Life after the Recurse Center

My batch at the Recurse Center finished last week. This seems like an appropriate moment to reflect on what I've learnt, and what I want to prioritise over the coming months.

Past three months

Technical

I learnt:

• How programming languages work
• C
• x86 Assembly
• JavaScript
• Scheme
• Forth
• Principles of web security
• P5.js
• Algorithms + data structures
• A large amount of 'osmosis' knowledge from being around so many talented people

I wrote:

• A Lisp interpreter
• A Forth interptreter
• A chrome extension
• A web game
• Blog posts
• Solutions to the first couple of chapters of SICP
• A ray tracer
• Sceptre features

Non-technical

• Met a brilliant community of amazing people
• Spent summer in NYC
• Travelled to fun places: New York, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, Napa, Virginia Beach
• Started reading more often

Next three months

Technical

• Monzo. I'm starting a new job as a backend developer at Monzo in two weeks. I'll be working with a new technology stack (Golang microservices on Kubernetes - how de rigeur) and industry (banking). I expect to learn a lot over the next couple of months, and I'm not worried about planning specifics.
• Scheme compiler. Since learning Golang, I've been interested in the convenience of compiled languages. I'm toying with the idea of writing a Scheme to Golang transcompiler. It should be an interesting learning experience as I've not written a compiler before. Targeting Golang rather than something like the LLVM simplifies the task, as Golang natively supports Lisp-ey constructs like first class functions. An implementation of something similar already exists, which I can use as my spirit guide.
• Haskell. I've been meaning to learn Haskell for a while. Some of my favourite elements of Python are borrowed from functional languages and I think it makes sense to learn the canonical functional language.
• Keep blogging (roughly) weekly.

Non-technical

• Alumni checkins. RC has a checkin (similar to Agile stand ups) thread on its IM. Checkins are a useful tool for accountability and keeping in touch with the community. I didn't regularly write checkins when my batch was running, but I hope to do so now.
• Continue reading.
• Exercise regularly.
• Go to more theatre/art.
• Go clubbing more often.

I'm not sure what my Monzo workload will be like. It's possible Scheme or Haskell won't happen, but I'm alright with this. I think I'll be learning enough in the first months either way.