Strange Loop

2009 - 2023

/

St. Louis, MO

Javascript... FOR SCIENCE!

This presentation will take a look into the world of research science where software development is very much alive... but not doing so well. It is a world where monolithic code structures tower over the landscape, terrifying those in the shadows from modifying or extending them. It is a world where spaghetti-software crunches numbers for some of the leading research in the world, but there are no tests. It is a world.. that needs your help, developers.

Almost two years ago, we (Angelina and Bill) met through a mutual love of technical ideas. One of us came from a background in particle physics, and the other from programming and cognitive science. Initially we considered our fields of research distinct from one another, but when it came down to it we realized we were both writing software every day - just solving different problems. We started to share the differences and similarities of our code-lives with each other, and through this dialogue we came to realize that the world of science desperately needs your help.

Yes, you. You are capable of understanding and contributing to science for the greater good of all of humankind, and we’re going to tell you how and why.

We will also introduce you to a new project aimed to connect developers and scientists for interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as unveil a small JavaScript toolkit to help you get started crunching numbers with your favorite new scientist.

Angelina Fabbro

Angelina Fabbro

Steamclock Software

Angelina is Technical Lead at Steam Clock Software in Vancouver, Canada. She has spoken about cutting-edge browser technology like Shadow DOM and web components at various tech conferences such as JSConf EU, CascadiaJS, Copenhagen JS, and Firefox OS Hack days. Angelina has a background in cognitive science, building clever robots and was recently nominated for 2013 Net Awards Brilliant Newcomer of the Year.

Bill Mills

Bill Mills

Dr. Bill Mills is a particle & nuclear physicist currently working as a web developer and UI designer for TRIUMF, Canada’s national lab for nuclear physics. Bill’s past work spans cutting edge new physics at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, nuclear structure at Yale and radiotherapy at TRIUMF, and his current focus is on pioneering the use of modern web technologies to build better tools for doing experimental physics.