LA.pm: May and June Scheduling

[Robert Spier]

Ok, I propose the following schedule:

First June....

    Saturday June 1- 
      1:30pm-5pm (3hours with some breaks)

    Optimize Your Perl
    ------------------
    Location: TBA [1] 

    This tutorial is an introduction to optimizating perl
    applications. It's important knowledge for anyone writing
    time-sensitive applications, from a CGI script to a large
    application.

    It covers the following four major components:

    1. A brief introduction to complexity theory
    
      Just enough complexity theory to have a basic language to talk
      about runtimes of functions. O(1), O(n), O(n^2), etc. Complexity
      of common perl idioms like map, sort, nested loops, etc. Why is
      some code slow? (And it's not perl's fault!)

    2. Real world / real code examples and how to make them faster

      Examples of O(n^2) or worse functions and how they can be
      improved by an order of magnitude by rewriting the algorithm,
      and possibly changing the data structures used to store
      things. Memoization/Caching/Persistency/Precomputing.

    3. Some simple Benchmarking

      Devel::DProf and Benchmark.pm can help to isolate problem spots
      in your code. Learn how to properly interpret data and how to
      pick the "important" pieces.

    4. Is it worth it?

      Not all time spent optimizing the code is worth it. There are
      tradeoffs of time, readability, speed. Discuss development
      strategies, pre-optimization, and over-optimization. O(n) can be
      faster than O(1) for small n.

     followed by dinner somewhere nearby.

    I'll be also giving this tutorial at TPC (Part of OSCON 2002) in
    San Diego in July.  http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2002.  If
    you see it there, you'd pay about $320.  But, you can come to my
    practice session for less than that.  I will ask for a (voluntary)
    donation of $5 [2] at each class to cover expenses. [3]  Any funds
    remaining after expenses will be donated to YAS [4] or The German
    Shephard Rescue [5].

Then May....

    I'm pretty busy in May, but I do have another TPC Talk to
    practice.  Scott has already expressed interest in it.   I'm busy
    every Saturday except the 11th or 18th.  It'll be a short talk,
    25-35 minutes long on...

	Request Tracker
        ---------------
 	A Versatile Ticket Tracking system....

	(No outline yet..)

	http://www.bestpractical.com/

	RT is written in Perl, runs under Mason, uses
	DBIx::SearchBuilder.  Works with mod_perl and fastcgi, is very
	OO, uses lots of mail modules, etc.. Definitely a cool and
	interesting tool.

	I'll be talking about how to set it up, use it, configure it,
	integrate it with other tools, etc...

     Please express a date preference.  :)


To Finalize...

    Well, There really isn't anything else to say.  These are two neat
    talks, and I look forward to practicing them on you.  :)

    Any Questions?

-R

Footnotes: 
[1]  Right now there are two possible locations: Scott's office in
     Culver City, and the library in the North Valley.  If anyone else
     has a location suitable for a presentation (with a projector for
     a computer) and enough room, we could consider that too.

[2]  Or more.  :)  

[3]  Employes of the Walt Disney Company are exempted from this request.

[4]  http://www.yetanother.org

[5]  http://www.gsrecue.org

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