We've moved to meetup.com!

After some discussion and some planning (inexplicably including macramé owls), we’ve moved to meetup.com.

meetup.com/JSOxford

Sign up, and tell all your friends.

2014 Summer of Hacks

Join us for a series of hands-on events this summer

We're taking a break from our evening meetups for the next few months. Instead, we're going to hold hack days, where you can come along to learn, tinker, hack & hang out with like minded people.

We’ve got three events planned, you’ll get a lot from them whether you’re starting out, or an experienced JS developer.

• NodeSchool - get started (or better at) node.js.
• Code Retreat - hack the way you approach coding.
• NodeBots - JAVASCRIPT ROBOTS.

See below for more information and links to register for each event. We’ve got a limited number of tickets for each event, so sign up and put it in your diary. Tickets are £5.

We’re really looking forward to seeing you.

NodeSchool 21st June 2014

NodeSchool has finished - see how it went

NodeSchool is a community driven, open source educational project that teaches JavaScript and node.js skills in an interactive, self-guided way.

Register and attend if you want to meet up at the Jam Factory and dive into a nodeschool workshop. There are workshops available for every skill level from JS beginners all the way to experienced node programmers.

You will need to bring your own laptop, and it will help if you have already installed node.js. Mentors will help you on the day.

Register for NodeSchool

Code Retreat 6th July 2014

Sadly the Code Retreat is over – see how it went

Write better code to a backdrop of pastries and burritos… the Code Retreat is a chance to hone your programming skills without the pressure of Getting Things Done.

Following on from the success of the JavaScript Code Retreat in May we’re excited to be running the 2nd Oxford Code Retreat, and this time it’s Super-Mega! Want to get hone your JavaScript, Ruby or Python? Code Retreat is for you! This time we’re shifting the focus from TDD to functional and object-oriented techniques.

What is it?

Code Retreat is a day of pair-programming around a common challenge. Over five 45-minute sessions you’ll get to work with a variety of people to improve your day-to-day coding. At the end of each session we’ll regroup and share what we’ve learned.

For a nice introduction to code retreat and why it’s a great idea, check out this video.

Register for Code Retreat

NodeBots 23rd August 2014

NodeBots has now been dissassembled - write up coming soon

NodeBots are robots that are controlled by node.js. A NodeBots event is a full day event where JS developers team up in small teams to program robots with JS.

We’ve got 3 radio-controlled, video-enabled cars which can be controlled with JS over wifi, and also a nodecopter you can fly with JS (or just with your phone)!

We’ll have arduino kits you can use to build and program robots. You don’t need to know what a resistor is or how to use an aynschronous callback, we’ll have hardware and JS experts ready to help you throughout the day.

We’ve also extra sensors and displays you can tinker with. We’ve also got buckets of Lego Technic you can use to build quick prototypes.

You’ll be able to buy Arduino kits at a discount on the day, if you want to take your work home with you (sorry you can’t buy the lego though!)

Register for NodeBots

Please note:

We’ve moved the venue at the last minute, sorry! It will now be at the White October offices.

What does this mean for you?

• Better food: we can now afford burritos and pizza for lunch, we’ll also have pastries and snacks throughout the day
• Unlimited free tea and coffee
• More space and desks, including workstations you can use
• Fast, reliable internet
• Air conditioning
• Whiteboards
• A meeting room for serious discussion
• An HD projecter for talks and demos

We’ll be collecting people from the station and the Jam Factory, so don’t worry if you don’t know the way.

Code Retreat - Summer of Hacks

This event has finished, see the summer of hacks post for information about the next events

Write better code to a backdrop of pastries and burritos… the Code Retreat is a chance to hone your programming skills without the pressure of Getting Things Done.

Following on from the success of the JavaScript Code Retreat in May we’re excited to be running the 2nd Oxford Code Retreat, and this time it’s Super-Mega! Want to get hone your JavaScript, Ruby or Python? Code Retreat is for you! This time we’re shifting the focus from TDD to functional and object-oriented techniques.

What is it?

Code Retreat is a day of pair-programming around a common challenge. Over five 45-minute sessions you’ll get to work with a variety of people to improve your day-to-day coding. At the end of each session we’ll regroup and share what we’ve learned.

For a nice introduction to code retreat and why it’s a great idea, check out this video.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone that came for an amazing day. Some great discussions were had, and only one or two language/editor wars!

Our sponsors

Support from Github & Haybrook & White October let us hold this event in such a lovely place, and kept us supplied with coffee and some drinks afterward.

Our organisers

Ryan and Ben put in a bit of time organising the event and building the testing system, but a huge thanks go to Pete and George for the Ruby & Python wrappers. Rich was generally awesome (as always).

Our attendees

We had almost three times the number of people for this Code Retreat. Thanks for coming! Please let us know what you thought of the day here.

As always, if you have any photos/blog posts about the day let us know.

NodeSchool - Summer of Hacks

This event has finished, see the summer of hacks post for information about the next events

NodeSchool is a community driven, open source educational project that teaches JavaScript and node.js skills in an interactive, self-guided way.

Register and attend if you want to meet up at the Jam Factory and dive into a nodeschool workshop. There are workshops available for every skill level from JS beginners all the way to experienced node programmers.

You will need to bring your own laptop, and it will help if you have already installed node.js. Mentors will help you on the day.

Thank you!

I think we can consider NodeSchool a success - a huge thanks to everyone involved

Our sponsors

Support from Github, Haybrook & White October let us hold this event in such a lovely place, and kept us supplied with coffee and some drinks afterward.

Our organisers

Roy and Ben put in a lot of effort over the last few weeks to organise this event. And on the day we also had Pete and Ivan who helped with mentoring on the day.

Roy wrote up the day on his site.

Our attendees

The turn out for NodeSchool was fantastic. Thanks to everyone who came along

Also, if you have any photos/blog posts let us know.

14th May MegaMeetup#2

As part of digital oxford week we’re teaming up with Oxford Python for another mega-meetup

Please note - this won’t be at our usual venue, but at St Aldates Tavern

Getting functional with Clojurescript

by Matthew Thompson @cblop

Clojurescript is a dialect of lisp that compiles to Javascript. In this talk, we will go about making a basic game from scratch. Along the way, we’ll learn about setting up Clojurescript projects, using the Light Table IDE and how to design a game using immutable data structures. I’ll also explain why Clojurescript is useful for front-end web development.

Naming Things

by Gil Gonçalves @lurst

“There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things.” – Phil Karlton In this talk, I will talk about naming things, telling you why is it hard to name, how to get better at naming and this will lead you to be an even better Software Developer.

Events - Code Retreat & Node School

Ryan Brooks will be talking about last weekends JavaScriptCodeRetreat - and how we can hold more in the future.

Roy Lines telling us about Node School, and gauging interest for a future event.

CPython VMs

by Mark

We’ll also be having a talk about CPython VMs from Mark. We don’t have more details than that - you’ll have to come along!

Special Thanks to…

We’re able to meet in this lovely pub thanks to Github Community who are sponsoring the event.

There is also a Oxford Python event on Meetup - where you can sign up there if you consider yourself more toward the python side of Mega-ness.

10th May JS Code Retreat

We’re very excited to be part of JavaScript CodeRetreat

Write better code, eat better food… The JavaScript code retreat is a chance to hone your programming skills without the pressure of Getting Things Done.

The JS Code Retreat is a day of pair-programming around a common programming challenge. Over 5 to 6 45-minute programming sessions you’ll get to work with a variety of people and work on improving your day-to-day coding, whether it’s TDD, DRY, naming, or whatever. At the end of each session we’ll regroup and share what we’ve learned.

For a nice introduction to code retreat and why it’s a great idea, check out this video.

What do I need to bring?

Just your good self and a laptop. If you’ve got a ready-to-go environment all the better, but if not we’d recommend TDDBin.

We’ll provide drinks and lunch!

How much does it cost?

We take payment in fun, effort and brainpower. There is no entry fee, you just need to a RSVP on Lanyrd.

Where?

We’ll be meeting at White October to kick off coding at 8.30AM. Although that’s pretty early for a Saturday, we’re sychronising with groups from Cologne, Munich and Barcelona (so far). The upside is that it’s early enough for pastries!

All we ask is that if you can’t make it you update your RSVP so we can get that space to someone else.

That sounds great, how can I help?

At the moment we’d be really grateful for:

• Sponsorship! Help us provide codefuel to keep the creative juices flowing.
• Help on the day. There’s plenty of setting up and clearing down, as well as keeping the day running smoothly. Get in touch if you’re keen to help out.
• Spread the word. Most important of all, shout it from the rooftops (or just use Twitter…).

Other things

Haybrook IT Resourcing have kindly sponsored breakfast pastries and lunch. Be sure to chat to Sarah over coffee before the event and say how great the food is! We also have a JetBrains WebStorm license to give away - we’ll pick a winner from the attendees on the day.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got a number of 10% discount codes for the JSDay conference in Verona.

25th March 2014

And we’re back! …on a TUESDAY!?!

This month we're talking about getting our code running in the real world. Come along to find out how to deploy apps with heroku and how continuous deployment can help you build software faster and with less stress.

Node + Heroku + Unrealistic time constraints

with Pete West @peterjwest

Can you build and deploy a site in 5 minutes from scratch? This will be a live code session where I try to do node and heroku at speed, and explain it at the same time. May well be a codetastrophe, heckling encouraged!

Pete did a great job of deploying jsox.herokuapp.com in (slightly over) 10 minutes. He covered github, npm, express, jade, bower & bootstrap.

Continuous Deployment or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Failed Build

with Roy Lines @roylinesuk

This photo is the talk description - we think that might be a good thing

Roy gave an awesome overview of his continous deployment process, his slides are available here.

We’ve cancelled BOOYA because there’s a GITHUB DRINKUP IN TOWN…

…If we start promptly at 7.30, and hold Pete to his unrealistic time constraints. We’ll have plenty of time to make it across town for the drink up.

Also, if this is the first you’ve heard about the drink up; you totally need to come along with us - it’s the polite thing to do! (and, it’s the rules)

As usual, we’ll be meeting at White October at 7.30PM - we’d appreciate if you attend on lanyrd (it lets us know how many drinks and snacks to get in!).

12th December 2013

Join us for the last meetup of 2013 where we'll be talking about using streams in node and chattting about some new JS Projects

Indestructible twitter streams with node

by Ben @benjaminbenben

The twitter streaming apis are totally fun and super awesome.

I’ll cover the (surprisingly detailed) data that we can get from the streams, and some of the challenges that we have to face to maintain a connection.

We’ll delve into the node stream API - and how we can use this to abstract a robust interface to the twitter apis that can survive network failures, stale connections and modifying query parameters.

Then we’ll talk about some of the awesome projects/hacks that we can do when we are able to dynamically alter parameters.

Bring yOur Own hYperlink Along - BOOYA

by Everyone!

We’re going to try a new type of session, bring a few links to js-based projects that you find interesting and we’ll go through them and have a quick chat.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about the project, just anything that you find interesting or cool!

hYperlink we discussed

Nodecopter via @chvck

Nodecopters are cool

Calculating element vertex data from CSS transforms via @benjaminbenben

When you want to do complex calculations based on the transforms of elements, you might be better using webGL (counter argument: have you used webGL?)

Stop Being Cute and Clever via @ghickman

Went over why [1,2,3].map(parseInt) evaluates to [1, NaN, NaN], talked about dependency management for other languages and how projects like rails-assets can allow cross dependency integration. Touched briefly on PHP.

jQuery matchers and fixture loader for Jasmine framework via @floehopper

None of us actively/formally use fixtures in our JS projects.

Every javascript project you should be looking into via @jopotts

We liked how the library examples load in the same site and wondered if the projects were ordered by reverse popularity. @jopotts said he would have chosen this link if he’d actually thought about it.

17th October 2013

For the night before All Your Base we're teaming up with Oxford Python for a data-based^* super-mega-meetup

Please note - this event won’t be at our usual venue, but at Oxford University IT Services

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About D3

### by Anna Powell-Smith @darkgreener

D3 (Data-Driven Documents) is the world-conquering Javascript library for building beautiful data visualizations. It’s the sixth most starred repo on GitHub, and it’s taking over the universe. If you’re new to D3, I’ll take you through the basics. If you’re already a fan, I’ll show you ten things you didn’t know you could do in D3.

Mobile Oxford, an aspirational API to the University

### by Dave King @davbo

Mobile Oxford is a web application for people living in and around Oxford developed by the University. This talk will discuss the technical aspects of developing a generic HTTP API for use throughout the University (and beyond!) along with the JavaScript client for Mobile Oxford itself.

Other things

Cloudant have generously offered to get in some drinks for the evening! We also have a limited number of All Your Base discount codes if you don’t have a ticket (hit us up on twitter if you’re interested). Also - this event is part of Digital Oxford Week, there are some great events through the week - so do check it out.

25th September 2013

This month we have a special speaker coming to talk about cross platform automated testing your JS.

Appium: Javascript-powered Mobile Automation by Jonathan Lipps

Appium is an open-source cross-platform mobile automation tool built in Node.js. The source and community are online at https://github.com/appium/appium. Appium’s interesting to JS devs for a number of reasons, not least because of the pressing need for better automation and CI tools in the mobile space in general.

Jonathan Lipps has been making things out of code as long as he can remember. He currently works as a Senior Software Developer for Sauce Labs, which enables him to write code for various open-source projects, like Appium (for which he’s the primary architect and contributor). Jonathan has worked as a programmer in the startup world on and off for over a decade, and given talks on software development at conferences around the world, but is also passionate about academic discussion. Jonathan has master’s degrees in philosophy and linguistics, from Stanford and Oxford respectively. Living in San Francisco, he’s an avid homebrewer, rock climber, and writer on topics he considers vital, like the relationship of technology to what it means to be human.

21st August 2013

…And we're back!

It’s been a long summer break, though we’ve got a nice range of talks for a welcome back JSOxford

Getting started with Node.js by Kevin Carmody

This talk will help you get started with server-side JavaScript in Node.js. It’ll show you how to get setup, start adding packages, communicate with 3rd party services and persisting data to a simple document store.

Hands on PhantomJS by Ben Foxall

I talked about “Serving websites to websites with PhantomJS” at the recent Oxford Geek Night. This is going to be a more practical session - I’ll go through creating a PhantomJS script, setting up the web server and deploying your service to heroku.

Working with a large node project: Ghost by Gabor Javorszky

I will talk about how developing a huge project in node works for us. There are currently about 15 people collaborating on the same codebase from the US to Australia. What are the logistics of it, how is the codebase structured, and what are some interesting gotchas we have managed to run into along the way.

Attend on - lanyrd (so we know how much beer to get in)

22nd May 2013

This month we have a selection of talks from our members - lanyrd.

As usual, come to White October (map) for 7.30 - we’ll aim to start the talks by 7.45.

• Gabor Javorszky - Deploying with GruntJS - I was introduced to Grunt.js a short while ago. Since then, I’ve gotten rid of a ton of apps and settings: a) Codekit b) SFTP plugin on Sublime. Basically, all the tasks you would need to do under one roof living in one configuration file at the end of one command. I’ll show what I use it for, and how I got there.

• Charles Dixon - A quick introduction to nosql - Part 1 of 3. In this talk we’ll cover why maybe we don’t want to use a relational DB for some things and we’ll look at the 4 “main” types of nosql databases currently in use.

• Ben Foxall - Win Win communication - Experiences on the web don’t have to be constrained to a single browser window: we’ll go over some of the technologies that allow data to be shared across multiple windows or devices.

Hack Day - WiRC Cars - 20th April 2013

We're organising a hack day as a fringe event around the jQuery UK conference. We'll be driving RC cars around with a node.js library.

If you want more information - please contact with us at jsoxford@whiteoctober.co.uk or @jsoxford.

More details are on the event page and on lanyrd.

Thanks to our sponsors

This hack day wouldn’t have been possible without our car sponsors:

Infragistics

### Blackberry ### Caplin ### White October

Information for Attendees

IMPORTANT: If you have a ticket and are are unable to make it to the hack day, please tell us and we’ll try and find someone to take your place

Where and when?

We’ll be hacking from 9am on Saturday morning at the King’s Centre in Botley, Oxford. Try to be prompt - there’s a lot of hacking to do! We’ve got the space till 6pm.

If you went to jQuery UK the day before - you’ve already been there!

What do I need to bring?

Ideally a laptop with libkoki on it. We won’t have any spare machines to hack with, so make sure you bring one!

What’s for breakfast?

Croissants and Pain au Chocolate. Orange and apple juice. Coffee!!!!1!!

What’s for lunch?

Baguettes, samosas, pastries, fruit. Orange and apple juice.

Where am I?

If all else fails, give us a call on 07540838982 (Ben), 07540838982 (Kevin) or 07565631681 (Pete).

We’ll also be kicking about out on irc: #jsoxford at irc.freenode.net if you want to ask questions.

This hack day is part of Digital Oxford Week

20th March 2013

This month we heard about TiddlyWiki and had a couple of impromptu demos - lanyrd

• Jeremy Ruston gave us a fantastic overview TiddlyWiki and his 25 year reboot project TiddlyWiki5.
• John told us about kinetic text and how he’s been building a demo with html/css/js.
• Pete told us about the hack day and our progress of building a node.js library for controlling Dension Smart Racers.

Games - 21st February 2013

In February - We looked at JS and gaming - lanyrd

• Kevin and Ben showed us multi device gaming with websockets in a game called Twon.
• Pete showed us how to implement a basic physics engine in JS with vector maths using Sylvester. Pete’s example code (also now with and implementation of the GJK collision detection algorithm) is up on github
• Matt showed us the power of eval in creating his ZX Spectrum emulator - jsspeccy

Frontend - 17th January 2013

In January - we went for a theme of frontend - lanyrd

• Matt told us about the JS Audio APIS and library used to create the torchbox christmas choir
• Henry took us through some “front-endery tools” including bl.ocks.org, sublime text tricks and more!
• Tom premiered his new cross-browser dom generation library dome.js
• Kevin was going to tell us about knockout, backbone & angular js - but we ran out of time…

Hello World - 15th November 2012

Our first JS Oxford meet - lanyrd

• Ben spoke about reading tweets with the twitter streaming api, and displaying them on a map more info on his blog.
• Pete spoke about using mongoDB and nodejs to build an search interface for magic cards.
• Kevin told us about knockout.js and how he used it in a node knockout entry.