FP-Syd meeting!

After our June talk full of modal types and proofs, July in FP Syd features a look beyond the statically-typed world. Burin Choomnuan will give us a refreshing perspective on Closure and what its dynamic types can bring to the table (abstract below).
As usual, doors open at 6pm for networking and the talk will start around 6:45pm.

Burin Choomnuan: Clojure for Haskell & OCaml Developers: A Functional Programming Perspective
Are you a Haskell or OCaml developer curious about what the dynamic typing world has to offer? Join us for an in-depth exploration of Clojure from the perspective of statically-typed functional programmers.
We'll challenge the assumption that giving up compile-time type checking means sacrificing safety and elegance. Through side-by-side code comparisons and real-world examples, you'll discover how Clojure's "Simple Made Easy" philosophy offers a refreshingly different approach to functional programming.
What You'll Learn:
How Clojure's approach to data manipulation can reduce boilerplate by 50-70% compared to typed FP languages
Why "Code as Data" and LISP's homoiconicity enable metaprogramming capabilities beyond Template Haskell or PPX
Practical strategies for maintaining safety in a dynamically-typed world (spec, property-based testing, REPL-driven development)
How to leverage the JVM ecosystem while maintaining functional purity
Why Clojure's REPL-driven development is uniquely suited for AI/LLM integration and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools
Real-world examples comparing error handling strategies between monadic and nil-punning approaches
Special Focus: AI & Interactive Development
Discover why Clojure's interactive development model is becoming the language of choice for AI tool development, with live examples of building MCP integrations that would be cumbersome in statically-typed languages.
Prerequisites: Familiarity with functional programming concepts (higher-order functions, immutability, algebraic data types). No prior Clojure knowledge required.

Burin Choomnuan is Lead Software Engineer at NewsCorp Australia, where he architects and maintains enterprise-scale microservices in Java and Clojure. With 20+ years bridging statically and dynamically typed languages, he brings unique insights from migrating large Java codebases to Clojure while maintaining production stability. A regular speaker at Sydney tech meetups and active open-source contributor, Burin advocates for REPL-driven development and functional programming pragmatism.