Today is the last day of the year and I’d like to compile a very short list of best 4 functional Scala talks I’ve seen during the last 365 days. If you missed any of them, now is the best time to catch up!
Having a cake and eating it too (Introduction to Typeclasses)
An intense 30-minute introduction to typeclasses based on a very practical example. You meet Jimmy and see how he behaves during the worst possible day for any software developer - The Day When StackOverflow Is Down. Given at Scalar Conf 2016 by Paweł Szulc.
The Dialectics of Type-Level Programming
If you want to know how to make the compiler typecheck your HTTP API, you should definitely watch this talk! Aaron Levin takes us on a journey through Shapeless and Haskell Servant inspired ideas. This will give you a nice foundation for understanding many more generic programming concepts. Given at Lambda World 2016.
Establishing Orbit with Shapeless
Beginner-level introduction to both “Why?” and “How?” of Shapeless and generic programming. Dave Gurnell presents a very simple and easy-to-follow CSV file example. If you’ve never programmed using Shapeless and you don’t know what all the fuss is about, make sure you watch this! Given at Scala eXchange 2016.
Go to SkillCasts page to watch this talk.
Pure Functional Database Programming with Fixpoint Types
This is a more involved presentation about some category theory concepts based on real world example. Rob Norris introduces Fixpoint Types by using his implementation of Fix and Cofree to insert and query a very simple data type. He shows how to use both types in database programming based on doobie - pure functional JDBC layer for Scala. Doobie is also a nice example of using Free monad. Given at Scala World 2016.
What do you think?
I try to watch as many talks as possible, but it’s still possible I missed something excellent. Please let me know in the comments section below or on Twitter if that’s the case.
