A Web Directions event Code 2016 Australia's Digital Government Conference

Session Details

Rob Howard

The Things You Can't Do

Rob Howard Functional Programmer

Flexible. Dynamic. Feature-rich. These are usually terms to describe programming languages, libraries and frameworks; they sound great, but what are we trading off to get them? And what can we can gain if we run in the other direction and strive for less of these qualities?

In this talk we'll draw a line straight through ES6, immutability, "functional-style", Flow, Elm and PureScript in twenty minutes: why they're useful, what you have to give up to make the best use of them, and why that isn't a bad thing. It's a tall order, but it's a tour that'll get you thinking, and will leave you with enough jumping-off points to dig into for months to come.

Rob Howard

Rob is a web developer who hops between Haskell, JavaScript and PureScript at Ambiata. Having made a career nicking the nice bits from different programming languages, he'd like nothing better than to help programming communities to learn more from each other. If you're a fan of essay-length tweet threads, he's on Twitter (and most other things) as @damncabbage.

Don't miss your chance to see Rob Howard and many other inspiring speakers at Code 2016.

Tickets start at $999, for two in-depth days with the world's leading Front End Engineering experts.

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Australia's Front End Conference.
Now in Sydney and Melbourne

SydneyJuly 27–28

MelbourneAugust 1–2

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What is Code?

Australia's Front End Engineering Conference

A 2-day, single track conference for JavaScript and Front End Engineers, now taking place in Sydney and Melbourne.

Curated by founder John Allsopp, who has over 20 years of experience with Web development technologies, Code is recognised around the World as an agenda setting event, covering the latest developments in the Web's programming language, JavaScript, the Web platform, and current practice in security, performance and Web engineering.

Like all our events, Code features a mix of renowned international speakers, and local experts, all sharing deep experience of real world projects.

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Praise for past Web Directions events

Web Directions is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development.

Phil Whitehouse, General Manager, DT Sydney

I’ve been admiring the Web Directions events for years, and was honored to be part… What a fantastic event!

Ethan Marcotte, inventor of "responsive Web design"

Out of any conference, Web Directions is far and away our favourite

Dave Greiner, founder, Campaign Monitor

our audience watches intently

About Us

Co-founded and now run by John Allsopp, Web Directions has for over a decade brought together leading developers, engineers, visual, IxD, UX and product designers, Art and Creative Directors, indeed everyone involved in producing web and digital products to learn from one another, and the World's leading experts across this vast field.

We spend our lives thinking about what comes next, keeping up with trends in technology, practices and processes, and filtering the hype, to make sure you don't miss trends that matter, and don't waste time on hype that doesn't.

We promise attending one of our events will leave you significantly better versed in the challenges you face day to day, and in solutions for addressing them.

In 2016, we'll be organising Respond in Sydney and Melbourne, Transform in Canberra, Code in Sydney and Melbourne, and Direction in Sydney.

vignettes form our events, social, speakers and more. Includes Hannah Donovan skylarking.

John Allsopp

John Allsopp has been working on the Web for over 20 years. He's been responsible for innovative developer tools such as Style Master, X-Ray and many more. He's spoken at numerous conferences around the World and delivered dozens of workshops in that time as well.

His writing includes two books, including Developing With Web Standards and countless articles and tutorials in print and online publications.

His "A Dao of Web Design" published in 2000 is cited by Ethan Marcotte as a key influence in the development of Responsive Web Design, who's rightly acclaimed article in 2010 begins by quoting John in detail, and by Jeremy Keith as "a manifesto for anyone working on the Web".

Code of Conduct

For over a decade, we've worked hard to create inclusive, fun, inspring and safe events for the Web Industry.

As part of our commitment to these values, we've adopted a code of conduct for all involved: ourselves, our speakers, our partners and our audience.

If you have any concern or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us.