Juraj Kirchheim

I love playing music, having a good argument, writing decent code, spending time with all kinds of people. I hate writing self-descriptions.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Far too many places. The world is full of blue prints for a better future. I hate to admit it, but my problem is implementation rather than inspiration.

Which creatives/developers/artists do you admire most?

If I really had to make a ranking probably substack would come first.

I am also a huge fan of Abelson and Sussman.

And I am humbled by many amazing people in the Haxe community, feeling very fortunate to get the chance to episodically exchange ideas with them.

What contributions are you proud of?

For years I've spend many if not most of my waking hours answering questions in communities like stackoverflow. Not so much lately, although I still try to be helpful in the Haxe group. Teaching Trying to teach is a great method of truly understanding and offering help is an important aspect of building communities.

Haxe is also something I feel a part of ever so slightly. Not in the sense that I consider my contribution outstanding in any way. But I do take pride in having stuck to Haxe for almost 5 years now and being one of the many who makes this community a crowd. And occasionally managing to propose a decent idea to the compiler team.

I also like to think that some things I was able to implement in Tinkerbell are actually useful and quite well executed.

Did your contributions bring you work opportunities?

Contributing, like any act of giving, leads to growth. Which mostly gives me a sense of fulfillment, but no doubt becoming better always opens new doors.

To answer the question as it was probably meant, my public activity has indeed occasionally lead to intriguing offers and positive anticipation during interviews.

Do you use them in your projects?

As for my modest contribution to Haxe, I rely on it constantly, using Haxe in commercial projects since five years and almost exlusively since two.

Regarding Tinkerbell, it is my personal utility belt for almost everything I do. There's no part of it, that doesn't run in some client's production code. Nothing substitutes a real world field test.

How did you get started with Haxe?

For a couple of years AS2 and PHP were my main language stack. And particularly PHP was killing me. Haxe was really exciting and I had finally managed to transition my commercial work with Haxe/php. Oh the irony.

What problem does Haxe solve for you?

At the risk of sounding overenthusiastic, I would say it gives me something to truly believe in. Since I have been using Haxe, my stance on how you should or shouldn't be programming has gone back and forth between opposite ideas, but I didn't really doubt Haxe in all that time.

What tips or resources would you recommend to a new Haxe user?

The most important tip is to regard Haxe as a completely different language. Personally, I long thought of Haxe as some kind of portable ActionScript 3 with weird features bolted on, but with other features missing. This proved an obstacle in unlocking Haxe's true potential for me.

As for resources, I consider the Haxe community the most important one. And also other Haxe code. Personally, I learn a lot from reading Nicolas' code. Particularly hscript was a true eye opener.

What Haxe libraries are you impressed by?

Well, as I said hscript really blew my mind at the time. Of the more recent stuff mockatoo is quite impressive.

What problem would you like to see solved by a new or existing Haxe library?

I would really like to see some of the bigger libraries to be split up and to start sharing some code. That I think would work toward reducing the prevalent problem of duplicate effort in our community.

What is the best use of Haxe you've come across?

Oh boy, I can't really answer that. I think what's best about all use of Haxe is the incredible diversity and picking a few things in particular couldn't do that any justice.

What do you see for the future for Haxe/OpenFL?

I am not using OpenFL so I can't comment on that. As for Haxe itself, I see the current growth continue steadily. The technology will continue to mature and evolve, spreading its tentacles into every possible direction. Muahahahahaha!

We've seen Haxe become an increasingly reliable choice and that is and should remain our main focus. Even though it would be cool, I doubt think we'll really hit the mainstream in under five years. It's just something to get comfortable with. The road to world domination is long.

I hope we can keep up the sense of community that we have now as we expand.

Sell your wwx2014 session!

I am really not a sales person, as you may have noticed if you've read this far.

But, let me try: Order now and lose 50% code in under a week!!!

What is the best part of wwx for you?

Hanging out with the gang!