Name: Utrecht JUG September 11th Meetup: Snake in 10 lines & Hack Your Brains
Start: 2025-09-11T17:30:00+02:00
End: 2025-09-11T22:30:00+02:00
Location: Yoink!

We are happy and very proud to announce our next meetup with two great speakers; Guus de Wit and Simone de Gijt

The meetup will be hosted by Yoink.

Please join us and RSVP!

Because of the limited number of seats, please keep your RSVP up-to-date, so we can welcome someone else of you can't make it.

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17:30 Doors open
18:00 Food & Drinks
19:00 Snake in 10 Lines: Learning More by Coding Less, by Guus de Wit
20:00 Break
20:15 Hack Your Brain: Smarter Learning for Devs by Simone de Gijt
21:15 Drinks

**Giveaways**
1 JetBrains licence

**Talks**

**Snake in 10 Lines: Learning More by Coding Less**

Can you create a complete game with just 10 lines of code? That was the quest I set myself when recreating the classic game Snake in as few lines as possible. Let me tell you: I was not ready for the types of challenges I would face. For example, just registering button presses was not as straightforward as I had hoped.

Through live coding, I will show you how I overcame these obstacles and distilled Snake to its absolute essence. What key elements make this game instantly recognizable? By combining Kotlin and Swing, we will end up with a minimal code base and if not award-winning, at least a playable version of Snake.

Striving for conciseness led me to a deeper understanding of the code. I will show how constraints push us to think outside the box and lead to more creative solutions. Moreover, my approach can be applied to any problem. Sometimes the best way to understand code is by seeing how little of it you actually need!

**Hack Your Brain: Smarter Learning for Devs**

This talk explores how developers can learn smarter, not harder, by applying insights from neuroscience to coding practice. You’ll discover why learning is more than storing information. We’ll dive into the difference between rate of learning and rate of retrieval, and why being a fast learner doesn’t always make you a fast retriever. You’ll learn practical strategies to make new concepts stick.

We’ll also cover how to structure your coding sessions using the primary–recency effect. Along the way, you’ll get actionable tips for boosting focus and leveraging downtime.

Whether you’re learning a new Java framework or mastering advanced concepts, you’ll walk away with science-backed tips to learn smarter, code better, and stay ahead.

**Speakers**

**Guus de Wit**

Guus is a Java/Kotlin developer at adesso Netherlands. With a passion for puzzles and a background in science, he strives for elegant solutions to complex problems. In his spare time, he likes to over-optimize the simple tasks of today, to hopefully live a lazy life tomorrow

**Simone de Gijt**

Simone is a 33-year-old scuba diving enthusiast who loves board games, Hogwarts Legacy, and going on adventures. She lives in Houten and works as a Java and Kotlin software developer at OpenValue Amsterdam, currently on assignment at Rabobank.

Simone loves to mingle, collaborate, share ideas, and explain concepts. At the same time, she wouldn’t trade the excitement and satisfaction of developing new features for anything. She's defined by the combination: social but nerdy!

Teo Bais

Willem van de Griendt

Michel van Dongen

Utrecht Java User Group

Technology

Java

Open Source

Software Development

Web Technology

Cloud Computing

Web Development

Android Development Operating Systems Technology

Agile Project Management

Test Driven Development

J2EE

Java Concurrency

Java Virtual Machine

Java EE

Server Side Javascript