Computer Science

TOG Watch Night: The Secret Life of Components (Tim Hunkin) We’re kicking off a new bi-weekly Monday Watch Night at TOG. We’ll watch an episode of Tim Hunkin’s “The Secret Life of Components” together, then have a relaxed Q&A and discussion afterwards. This is a friendly, low-pressure way to learn the kind of practical tips you normally only pick up through years of making, fixing, and building. Perfect for beginners, makers, repair folks, and engineers who enjoy the practical side of components and mechanisms. How it works \- Watch together \(one episode per night\) \- Q&A and chat after: questions\, examples\, tangents\, and “how would we do this at TOG?” \- If you miss a week\, no stress\. Watch it at home and come along to the next one First session \- Monday 26 January \- Episode 1: Chain \- Free and open to all \- TOG Hackerspace \(Dublin 12\, D12 CF6V\) Full details: https://www.tog.ie/2026/01/tog-watch-night-the-secret-life-of-components-tim-hunkin/

Join us on **Easter Monday, 6 April**, for a **Parks on the Air (POTA)** outing from **Ticknock** in the Dublin Mountains. If you have not come across POTA before, it is all about bringing amateur radio into the great outdoors, setting up in a qualifying park, and making contacts from the field. We did a quieter test run on Bull Island recently and it went well, so this time we are opening it up to the wider **TOG community and the public**. We will meet at **10:30am** at the **Ticknock café** and then head off to find a good place to set up and operate. We expect to be on air for around **two hours**. You are very welcome to come along, help out, and even have a go on the radio using the **club callsign EI0TOG**. Jeffrey Roe, **EI7IRB**, will be leading the activation. Jeffrey is planning to cycle out, but there is parking nearby too. If radio is not really your thing, or you do not want to stay for the whole activation, Ticknock has plenty of walks so you can still join us for part of the outing. After the POTA activation, there are also IRTS 2m and 70cm contests running, so anyone who wants to keep the radio fun going is welcome to do that too. As always, this one is weather dependent. If the conditions are awful, we will give it a miss rather than spend another Monday getting soaked. Read the full details here: https://www.tog.ie/2026/04/pota-on-easter-monday-from-ticknock/ We hope to see some of you there in person, or hear from you on the bands.

There is no workshop happening this bank holiday Monday (6th April), but we will be back next Monday (13th April) for more fun and games.

Join us to **practise and improve your target language with native speakers on Monday in River Bar**(1 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2) from **6.30pm to 8.30pm**. **Our system:** **• You sit opposite a native speaker of the language you're learning** **• You speak 5mins English, 5mins other language, then change table** This ensures everyone gets an equal opportunity to practise the language they're learning. Our team seats people, controls the time, organises the table changes etc. What to expect: • Relaxed easy going atmosphere • Professional and quality service • Great networking opportunities • All levels welcome from absolute beginner to fully fluent • A big mix of ages with attendees at each event from 18 to 70+ years old • Topic cards on the tables to help start conversations Languages: We usually have **native speakers of English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese** and more depending on who shows up. **Admission fee €7** (€6 for student card holders). **No pre-registration required, just show up**. Loyalty card system: Come to 5 events and the 6th is free. Over 150,000 people since 2012 have attended our language exchanges to practise and improve their target language - you can too! Everyone is welcome! For more news and info check: Website: [www.languageexchangeireland.com](http://www.languageexchangeireland.com/) FB: [www.facebook.com/languageexchangeireland](http://www.facebook.com/languageexchangeireland) Instagram: [www.instagram.com/languageexchangeireland](http://www.instagram.com/languageexchangeireland) NOTE: The MeetUp attendance does not reflect actual attendance. There are usually around 100 people at each event. We are also in the River Bar every Thursday at 6.30pm

Join us to **practise and improve your Spanish/English with native speakers every Monday at River Bar** at 1 Burgh Quay (Dublin 2) from **6.30pm to 8.30pm**. **Our system:** **• You sit opposite a native speaker of the language you're learning** **• You speak 5mins English, 5mins Spanish, then change table** This ensures everyone gets an equal chance to practise the language they're learning. Our team seats people, controls the time, organises the seat changes etc. What to expect: • Relaxed easy going atmosphere • Professional and quality service • Great networking opportunities • All levels welcome from absolute beginner to fully fluent • A big mix of ages with attendees at each event from 18 to 70+years old • Topic cards on the tables to help start conversations **Admission fee €7** (€1 off for student card holders). **No pre-registration required, just show up**. Loyalty card system: Come to 5 events and the 6th is free. Over 150,000 people have attended our language exchanges to practise and improve their target language - you can too! Everyone is welcome! For more news and info check: Website: [www.languageexchangeireland.com](http://www.languageexchangeireland.com/) FB: [www.facebook.com/languageexchangeireland](http://www.facebook.com/languageexchangeireland) Instagram: [www.instagram.com/languageexchangeireland](http://www.instagram.com/languageexchangeireland) We also have the events every Thursday at River Bar on Burgh Quay at 6.30pm.

An Examined Life - A discussion group to exchange ideas and opinions related to psychology, science and philosophy. The format is that we select a theme and pick a book related to that theme to discuss. The link to the book will be posted and also a talk/podcast related to the book should you not have time to read the full book before the meetup. Pre-reading is not mandatory, however, everyone will get more out of the session if you read the book or listen to the short talk. The aim is to meet in Wetherspoons. Usually we are at a long table near the front window or, if not, a long table downstairs. Ask around and I'm sure you'll find the group! The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance The timeless guide to achieving the state of “relaxed concentration” that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself—part of the bestselling Inner Game series, with more than one million copies sold! “Groundbreaking . . . the best guide to getting out of your own way . . . Its profound advice applies to many other parts of life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes (“Five of My All-Time Favorite Books”) This phenomenally successful guide to mastering the game from the inside out has become a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of people. Billie Jean King has called the book her tennis bible; Al Gore has used it to focus his campaign staff; and Itzhak Perlman has recommended it to young violinists. Based on W. Timothy Gallwey’s profound realization that the key to success doesn’t lie in holding the racket just right, or positioning the feet perfectly, but rather in keeping the mind uncluttered, this transformative book gives you the tools to unlock the potential that you’ve possessed all along. “The Inner Game” is the one played within the mind of the player, against the hurdles of self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses in concentration. Gallwey shows us how to overcome these obstacles by trusting the intuitive wisdom of our bodies and achieving a state of “relaxed concentration.” With chapters devoted to trusting the self and changing habits, it is no surprise then, that Gallwey’s method has had an impact far beyond the confines of the tennis court. Whether you want to play music, write a novel, get ahead at work, or simply unwind after a stressful day, Gallwey shows you how to tap into your utmost potential. No matter your goals, The Inner Game of Tennis gives you the definitive framework for long-term success. Book link: https://www.amazon.ie/gp/aw/d/1035047926/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 YouTube summary link: https://youtu.be/lGnXYgbBLvQ?si=vQIoPfBsuD3UWWV_ https://youtu.be/jgP_32xUslY?si=ocpINQz2jy6r0Ezt Hope to see you there.

\> Note: If you have registered via luma\, please dont double register here\, Thanks\. **Talk: Writing Your Own Agent Skills For Python.** AI coding tools have relatively recently introduced Agent Skills. Lots of people are probably using skills written by the community, but you can make significant improvements to the speed of your own Python development by writing your custom skills. **Author:** Ciarán Tobin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciar%C3%A1n-tobin-6b609650/] [I'm the CTO and Founder of EdgeTier, an Irish company that builds software for contact centres.] ============================= **Talk: Exploring Wordle in python** A talk about solving Wordle in Python: taking a few guesses and finding the words that match. I'll start out with Unix pipes, then refine my approach several times in Python, fixing subtle problems and showing a few tricks. Audience: intermediate to expert. Beginners should get something out of it. I previously gave this talk last year in Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXmYd2euVEI Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18rSkAwdhvuXfzE35YZ8jUk2PhhS3ZA_Kjyys1MCRxGA/edit?usp=sharing **Author**: George V. Reilly [[https://www.georgevreilly.com/blog/](https://www.georgevreilly.com/blog/)] [Recently retired after 40 years in the software industry, 33 of them in Seattle. Python has been my primary language since 2008. Most recently, I worked for Stripe for seven years on network infrastructure, security, and developer productivity.] **=============================** **Lightning Talk:** 1. TBA **=============================** **Venue:** "Euronext" door, [Foster Pl, Temple Bar, Dublin](https://www.google.com/maps/place//data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x48670b1ef6041071:0xb46447d71aabd73c?sa=X&ved=1t:8290&ictx=111) Big thanks to our sponsor for this edition: [EdgeTier](https://www.edgetier.com/careers/)

Meet new people, make some friends. Enjoy the evening laughing to Ireland's up and coming comedians and socialising with new friends.

We’ve all made the exclamation: “now, that is beautiful!” And life seems better, richer for it. What do we mean by ‘beauty’? What qualities does something require in order to be classified in such a way? What things can be given such label? Are there things that do not deserve to be called beautiful? Is beauty restricted to physicality? Is beauty merely subjective or does it have an objective framework? Is it a matter of the feminine side of life? Is it something internal or external? Come along next Tuesday evening at the lovely Third Space Cafe Smithfield for a facilitated discussion about beauty. Newcomers are welcome. NOTE: we ask for a 3 Euro donation to cover expenses. Pay on the evening by coin or Revolut. Socrates Cafe: a space where ideas and dialogue can flourish.

😅 **Știu că nu ar mai trebui să ... dar încă fac asta!** 🤦‍♂️ **Știu că ar trebui să... dar cumva tot nu fac ce trebuie.** 😬 **Vreau să fiu mai îndrăzneț... dar îmi pun singur piedici.** 🧠 **Este oare într-adevăr posibil să preiau controlul asupra minții mele subconștiente?** Gândește-te la câte oportunități ai ratat sau de câte ori ți-ai pus singur piedici, toate din cauza acelui sentiment ciudat din interiorul tău. Unii numesc asta frică, alții spun că este vocea interioară sau doar un vibe ciudat. 🌫️ Acel sentiment vine chiar din mintea ta subconștientă, iar ea nu este tocmai specializată în decizii logice și bine gândite.🤔 ### 🌌 **PUTEREA MINȚII SUBCONȘTIENTE** Pe parcursul prezentării „Puterea Minții Subconștiente” vei primi explicații clare și practice despre: * Ce este mintea subconștientă cu exactitate * Cum creează ea sentimente sâcâitoare, nedorite * De ce unii oameni se simt mai stresați ca alții * Ce încearcă de fapt să facă subconștientul cu TINE * Aceasta nu este doar o altă prelegere în care stai și asculți. 🎤 Este interactivă și vie, așa încât poți întreba orice, oricând. 💬 În sfârșit vom aborda cea mai importantă întrebare dintre toate: ✨ **Cum poți tu recâștiga controlul asupra minții tale subconștiente?** ✨ Rezervă-ți locul acum! 🗓️ **21 APRILIE 2026 - 7PM** 📍 *Church of Scientology & Community Centre of Dublin* Firhouse Road, Dublin D24 CX39

Got something broken at home that you have been meaning to sort out for a while? Bring it along to our next Repair Café at TOG Hackerspace on **Saturday 11 April 2026**, from **12 noon to 4pm**. The event takes place at **TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12**, and tickets are free. A Repair Café is a chance to bring along broken or worn items and sit down with volunteer fixers to see what can be done. It is not a drop-off service. You stay with your item, chat through the issue, and get to see what is involved in trying to bring it back to life. Sometimes the repair is quick, sometimes it takes a bit of testing and head-scratching, and sometimes the item has other ideas, but you will usually come away knowing a bit more than when you arrived. You can bring things like: * Clothes and accessories * Toys * Small electrical appliances and electronics * Small furniture There is always a good mix on the day, and while we cannot promise miracles, we do enjoy a challenge. Repairing things keeps useful items in use for longer, saves money, reduces waste, and helps people build practical skills. It is also a nice social afternoon: cups of tea, odd screws on tables, and the occasional cheer when something suddenly starts working again. This event is supported by **Dublin Maker**. Please book your free ticket in advance here: [https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-cafe-tickets-1980452469649](https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-cafe-tickets-1980452469649) If you would like to be a fixer or volunteer at a future Repair Café, we would love to hear from you too.

Drop in to our regular Open Social for a great alternative Saturday evening. It's a great informal way to see the space and meet members and visitors. If you’ve never been in before, we’ll give you the grand tour of the space. Talk to members and visitors about projects or things that you’d like to do. If you like what you see, ask about joining as a full member. Membership brings many benefits. Weather and volunteer permitting, we might have our wood fired pizza oven going outside! [https://youtu.be/TTQ0YylkEzc](https://youtu.be/TTQ0YylkEzc) Expect caint, ceol agus craic as usual. The space stays open until the last member is left……usually the small hours of Sunday morning. You can drop in for 10 minutes, or stay the whole night. We have lots of free parking available. Bring beer, food, gadgets!

The global Azure community is coming together again, and Columbus is officially on the map. View the session lineup and speakers at [Global Azure Columbus 2026](https://coazure.github.io/cbus-global-azure-2026/) On **Saturday, April 18, 2026**, the Azure Columbus Meetup, DevOps Meetup, and Code and Coffee Meetup are hosting our local edition of Global Azure 2026. This is a free, community-driven event packed with learning, networking, and all things Microsoft Azure. Whether you’re building modern cloud-native apps, experimenting with AI agents, deploying containers, automating infrastructure, or just beginning your Azure journey, this event is for you! **What to Expect** * Engaging technical sessions * Real-world Azure architecture & cloud-native patterns * AI, agents, automation, and modern DevOps * Food and drinks (because learning burns calories) * Time to connect with fellow engineers, architects, and cloud enthusiasts **Who Should Attend?** * Software engineers (any language, any stack) * Cloud architects * DevOps engineers * Data professionals * AI explorers * Platform builders * Anyone who loves solving hard problems with great tools If you build, deploy, automate, scale, monitor, or optimize in Azure, you’ll feel right at home. **Why Global Azure?** Global Azure is a worldwide community event where Azure user groups host learning sessions on the same day across the globe. It’s grassroots. It’s technical. It’s practical. And it’s powered by people who genuinely love sharing what they’ve learned. And yes, it’s free to attend!

**The Data-Driven Brand: Using Analytics to Shape Perception** Can you use analytics to improve tacos? This being CBUSDAW, we think the answer is probably “yes”, but we’re not sure how to implement or test this theory. For our April meetup we’ve got Sara Kear, CMO of Condado Tacos, to investigate this delicious question. Sara will explore how she blends quantitative data and qualitative customer feedback to shape brand positioning and drive business decisions. We all know that marketing and analytics go way beyond attribution. Sara will show how Condado uses customer insights to inform product and pricing strategy. She’ll also highlight how Condado leverages customer feedback at scale to influence operational priorities, positioning marketing as the voice of the customer across the organization. In the last 12 years Condado has gone from one location in Columbus to 52 locations across 10 states, so we’re guessing there’s more to that growth than really good guac (though the guac probably helps). Ultimately, this talk focuses on the intersection of art and science—using data to inform creativity and build a brand that resonates with customers in a measurable way. **About Our Speaker** Sara Kear is Chief Marketing Officer at Condado Tacos, where she oversees brand, restaurant design, menu and pricing strategy, off-premise including catering, and customer data strategy. Since joining in 2021, she has helped grow the brand from 19 to 52 locations while building a data-driven marketing organization focused on loyalty and customer insights. Condado has since been named to the Inc. 5000, recognized as Breakout Retailer by Chain Store Age, and consistently ranked among FastCasual’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

AI is changing how art is made. But when does it stop being your work and start being the machine’s? This month we're going to be doing a panel with with digital image, music, and written word artists, talking about at what point, while using AI in the creation process, does the work become not the artist creation? We encourage audience participation during this event that will be moderated by Chris Slee. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services)

This meeting will be a discussion of the book "the Science of Aliens" by Mark Brake

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD

Pay attention! We’re delaying a week for those of you who may be on Spring break and/or celebrating the holiday. Ok, no pancakes, but waffles-a-plenty. Join the local UX and Digital Design community for a casual monthly breakfast. Look for us upstairs!

The Fellowship of the Star Schema: Transforming OLTP Data for Power BI One does not simply build reports on OLTP data. Join us on an epic journey from the depths of raw, normalized tables to the shining halls of a well-modeled star schema fit for Power BI greatness. We will demystify the differences between OLTP and OLAP, walk through star schema vs snowflake (and why Power BI has a clear favorite), and show you the compression differences between normalized and columnar storage that will make you never look at an OLTP model the same way again. We will cover the different types of dimensions, when to use them, and how to handle Slowly Changing Dimensions without losing your mind. You will leave knowing exactly how to identify a bad model, how to convert OLTP data into a clean star schema, and how to forge relationships that rule them all. Whether you are a data wizard, a curious hobbit, or somewhere in between, your models will never be the same.