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Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

recurse.com

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Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#81

Post by JoshTriplett »

nicholasjbs wrote: post #71
dmazin wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the reply! I agree that meaningless phrases are good for brands, and much better than ones with baggage (as you say, in that regard Hacker School can't get much worse). And I believe that you will be able to properly add meaning to "Recurse Center." My point with my "umph" comment was that "School" refers to an object/category, while "Center" refers to a blank entity, it's kind of a dead word (it also h…

Yes, we considered a few others. For instance, we thought about "retreat" but decided against it because it felt too limited, and we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Center is definitely kind of a "dead" word, but we'd rather err on the side of too little meaning rather than too much given our past mistakes :) (We also like the acronym "RC" more than "RR" or "RI.") Thanks for the t…

> we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious.

Mildly so, but "Recurse Institute" still sounds awesome. :)

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#83

Post by benihana »

jordigh wrote: post #43

This saddens me because it seemed like a good opportunity for the mainstream media to reacquire the good definition of "hacker". I had started to see newspaper articles that used the good meaning. Cultural inertia on terminology can change, and in the hacker case, I think it should. We certainly rarely say "negro" nowadays in the US except in historical contexts. I'm saddened that Hacker School gave up on the languag…

What I don't understand is who are they targeting this towards? Hacker School might have started as a place to teach the general public to code, but the only people who seem to get into that place now are already in the industry, or were already looking to join the industry in which case they should understand the term hacker. It's not like my mother will suddenly sign up because they changed the name.

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#84

Post by thomasjames »

Not trying to be pedantic, I just want to know if recurse is now an accepted word. Any thoughts? Sources seem to vary, and I know as a young field CS forms new words fairly often still, but it is clear historically that the verb base of "recursion" is "recur". Has recurse become the accepted form for discussion relating to algorithms, though?

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#85

Post by dragonwriter »

thomasjames wrote: post #84

Not trying to be pedantic, I just want to know if recurse is now an accepted word. Any thoughts? Sources seem to vary, and I know as a young field CS forms new words fairly often still, but it is clear historically that the verb base of "recursion" is "recur". Has recurse become the accepted form for discussion relating to algorithms, though?

> Not trying to be pedantic, I just want to know if recurse is now an accepted word.

It seems to be frequently used and accepted, with the definition presented in Wiktionary:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recurse

While "recur" also has, among its meanings, the same meaning, "recurse" seems vastly more likely to be used when the particular computing-specific meaning is intended.

Though I don't think any general-purpose professionally-edited dictionaries I've seen reflect this usage yet.

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#86

Post by seanmcdirmid »

tricolon wrote: post #76
briandear wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Hacker School is vocational and requires an "M" visa. But, Hacker School isn't a Student and Exchange Visitor Program certified school. So they can't sponsor visas. Which would explain exactly why denials would be happening. The purpose of the stay is "study" but the visa type is "tourist." That's the reason for rejections. It isn't the school name that creates the problem, it's the mismatched purpose of tr…

> I'm not sure why you'd be convincing the Immigration Officer of anything, assuming you were at the port of entry with a valid visa. Because immigration officers can and will deny a person entry if it is believed they will violate the terms of their visa. Even if the consulate and USCIS has approved you in good faith, an immigration officer has the right to reject you for any reason. I've had trick questions asked o…

This. Even as an American coming back to the states, they asked me weird questions before the machines were setup for citizens and green card holders.

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#87

Post by seanmcdirmid »

briandear wrote: post #54
Someone1234 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also present this as Exhibit A for how much of a knuckle dragger most border agents are. You really do have to pick your words carefully with them as most of their job is "gut instinct" and most aren't really that well educated or informed (even as much as knowing all of the countries).

I certainly can't speak for everyone's experience with the border officials, however I'm sure that their jargon might create some difficulties for you. As far as "knowing all the countries," I've been across some borders where I've had to explain their own visas to them. For example, the type of visa and residence permit I had while I lived in China (specifically relating to multi-entry vs. single entry.) I've been h…

As an American who lives abroad and visits many countries, the only scrutiny I get at the border besides the US is...Japan. China they never even say "hi" (at the airport anyways), Indonesia someone is usually asking for a bribe for quick access through immigration, Philippines, Thailand, India, Europe, all very similar silence (as an American, I guess that is to be expected).

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#88

Post by rilita »

Problem: Chosen name was generic and had bad connotations. ( apparently both "hacker" and "school" are considered bad currently )

Solution: Choose random geeky name where you can acquire the domain name.

There is still a negative connotation to the name for anyone who understands what recursion is, and also perhaps for people who assume it is something similar to "repeat". The name has the feeling that you will be repeating stuff over and over there.

While "Recurse Center" is certainly a step up from "Hacker School" in terms of branding, names generally are meaningless and are given meaning by using them. A person's name could have been used to similar effect.

Props for improving the name, but I'm failing to see how so much text was needed to say "The name was generic and had bad connotations so we chose a better one."

Stating that you actually chose a name because you could buy the domain name will just make you look bad.

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#89

Post by kazinator »

felixgallo wrote: post #51
kazinator wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A recurse center is is either: - a minimal room made of concrete walls, having one door and one window - a recurse center, plus the opening of one more window - the union of two recurse centres horizontally, by a tight wall-wall juxtaposition of the two of them, with the removal of one of their walls, and the opening of a door in the remaining one, if necessary - a similar vertical union, with the addition of a stair…

Unfortunately one problem with the recurse center's concrete rooms is that they were only architected to be able to handle immutable people, looking outside is strictly forbidden, and when you leave a room, it collapses.

It doesn't collapse in any way that you care about, though.

What is interesting is the possibility of tail recursing, but over a regular stack that is continuously abandoned. So the foundation and lower floors disappear, yet the recurse centre grows ever higher into the sky.

Re: Hacker School is now the Recurse Center

#90

Post by computerex »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #81
nicholasjbs wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we considered a few others. For instance, we thought about "retreat" but decided against it because it felt too limited, and we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Center is definitely kind of a "dead" word, but we'd rather err on the side of too little meaning rather than too much given our past mistakes :) (We also like the acronym "RC" more than "RR" or "RI.") Thanks for the t…

> we considered "institute" but worried it would come off as pretentious. Mildly so, but "Recurse Institute" still sounds awesome. :)

Heck yes, anything but "center". Even "academy". Anything.
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