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Welcome to the
System Crafters Newsletter!
Issue #005 - January 11, 2024
by David Wilson
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== Contents ==
1. Introduction
2. New Video: 5 Reasons to Learn Scheme in 2024
3. Announcing a new Guile Scheme course!
4. Crafter News
5. Friday's Stream - ???
6. Closing
== Introduction ==
Welcome to the new issue of the System Crafters Newsletter!
Today's issue will be a short one because I have a couple of things to announce,
but I plan to start sending out regular updates again soon, possibly with a new
format.
If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see in future newsletters, please
let me know!
-----
Are you interested in writing a tip or news entry for the newsletter?
Feel free to send drafts or recommendations to xxxxxx@systemcrafters.net
== New Video: 5 Reasons to Learn Scheme in 2024 ==
If you've been following System Crafters streams for a while, you already know
that I'm a big fan of the Scheme programming language. Its minimal yet powerful
feature set is really fascinating and worth learning, even as one's first
programming language!
In this new video, I try to make a case for why viewers should learn Scheme this
year. I tried to keep the video short so I didn't have time to cover everything
in more depth, but I hope it's interesting enough to inspire more people to
try it.
If you happen to share this video (please do!) on Reddit, Hacker News, or other
websites, let me know so that I can respond to the comments.
Check out the video here:
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eXK9YZ0NjU
== Announcing a new Guile Scheme course! ==
I'm serious about getting more people started writing Scheme this year. For this
channel and community, Guile Scheme is the obvious choice due to its use in GNU
Guix and connection with the wider GNU/Linux ecosystem.
A couple years ago, I created a video series to teach Emacs Lisp, and while it
was well received, I felt like I was making videos without being sure whether
they would teach the language effectively.
I'd like to try teaching Guile Scheme a different way this time: through a live,
interactive course where I teach beginners the fundamentals of the language via
practical projects in a collaborative setting.
I'm pleased to announce "Hands-On Guile Scheme for Beginners"! Check out this
page for a lot more information about the course and how to register:
-> https://systemcrafters.net/courses/hands-on-guile-scheme-beginners/
I think this will be a really fun and effective way to learn how to think like a
Scheme programmer and build a good foundation for becoming more skilled with the
language. I want to encourage non-programmers to consider joining the course,
too! Scheme is a great place to start your programming journey.
Everything I learn from teaching this course will be put into creating videos
for the System Crafters channel and into a complete book about Guile later in
the year, so your participation will benefit all of us!
I'm really excited about the potential for Guile Scheme to take off this year,
both with the growing awareness around GNU Guix and the cutting-edge
developments of Guile Hoot.
If you already know a bit of Scheme or are an experience programmer, I plan to
make other courses this year for intermediate and advanced skill levels. I will
announce all new courses on this newsletter, so you're in the right place!
Regardless of whether you choose to join the course, I'd love to hear your
feedback on this idea and also topics you'd like to see me cover in this format
for future courses.
== Crafter News ==
Here are some interesting news items in the broader sphere of system crafting:
* EXWM development activity has increased, new maintainers on board
We've talked a few times on streams about how EXWM doesn't seem to be actively
developed anymore. Thankfully, this seems to be changing! The primary
maintainer, medranocalvo, has announced a plan to move the current EXWM repo
to a GitHub organization to make it easier to bring in new contributors and
breathe some life into the project.
The more exciting news is that two new maintainers are now on board! Both
Stebalien and minad (the author of Vertico, Consult, and more) have both
joined the project to help improve EXWM.
More information about these developments can be found in this GitHub issue:
-> https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm/issues/853#issuecomment-1875716233
== Friday's Stream - ??? ==
I've been so busy getting the course announcement ready this week that I haven't
had time to think of a stream topic yet. I'd love to talk about something
Emacs-related!
Feel free to reply to this e-mail and let me know if you have any ideas for a
topic for tomorrow's stream.
== Closing ==
I hope you enjoyed this issue of the System Crafters Newsletter! I always want
to improve and streamline the content as time goes on so please send me your
thoughts and feedback by replying directly to this e-mail!
Until next time, Happy Hacking!
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David Wilson
xxxxxx@systemcrafters.net
