Tangentally related: #gaygeeks on FreeNodes. Tired of being the old LGBT person amoung you geeky friends? Tired of being the only geeky person amoung your LGBT friends?
Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
31–40 of 95 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#32#startups on Freenode was mentioned here before, I think.
The last time I checked, that channel has almost nothing to do with startups.
It comes and goes. It's way less serious and more off topic and casual than HN, but there are quite a few of us there.
Other than that one, I sometimes visit tech specific channels like #erlang or #chicagoboss or whatever I'm using... #postgresql is pretty good, #rubyonrails is a bit crowded these days.
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#33There is one particular use of IRC channels that is insanely useful, that I'd like to share. On various programming language channels, there are ad-hoc expression evaluation bots that experienced people use to guide newcomers through the intricacies of the language. If you're new to Haskell, for example, what you can do is grab the logs for the past 3 years, grep for "> " (used to invoke the evaluator) and you have i…
Yes, I definitely recommend the #haskell IRC channel on Freenode. It is such a friendly place where everyone is eager to help. I have learned a great many things from my time there. It's one of the biggest reasons to learn the Haskell language!
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#34There is one particular use of IRC channels that is insanely useful, that I'd like to share. On various programming language channels, there are ad-hoc expression evaluation bots that experienced people use to guide newcomers through the intricacies of the language. If you're new to Haskell, for example, what you can do is grab the logs for the past 3 years, grep for "> " (used to invoke the evaluator) and you have i…
excerpt of #haskell quality of life https://gist.github.com/quchen/5280339
" Haskell is invariant under gender. Really!"
Some great stuff in there :)
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#35[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#36Personally, I never found IRC to be a helpful tool for learning new things from unfamiliar people. To me, IRC has always been a "grapevine" tool, where etiquette, social pecking orders and gossip are shared amongst a smallish close-knit social circle. IRC always feels more like a social scene, and a distraction. If anything, perhaps an IRC channel is useful for managing fluid, rapidly changing situations, where you m…
I am not a programmer but when I was messing around with and making stuff with Processing last year I went to the IRC for assistance and I could not have been treated any nicer. It was like having 3 teachers there whenever I needed them (most of the time). I think it is #processingjs on freenode maybe.
But yeah, I would definitely go to IRC for help based on that experience
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#37#python - active 24/7 - some Google engineers there as well answering all sorts of questions.
#vim - I usually get an answer within about 60 seconds of asking.
#laravel - awesome community
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#38#lp101 on ...I think?...EFNet was the hotbed of locksport/mechanical security discussion and research for quite a while. I was amazed by some of the results of IRC-based collaboration in that community.
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#39I really enjou #infra-talk on FreeNode, sysadminy stuff without ties to any specific product or tool.
Re: Ask HN: Best IRC channels?
#40I've recently been using SaltStack and have found #saltstack on Freenode to be very welcoming and helpful which is nice. Often you go into a channel and it's a ghost town or out right hostile to relatively simple questions. I think OSS projects in general could learn a bit of "marketing" in this regard, if your IRC channels are toxic, I immediately think your community as a whole may be toxic.