> This included what was probably the most interesting part, writing the tricky recursive code to implement the match statement.
Back in school I found this book[0], "The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages". Flipping through it was very neat because it kinda demystified the nuts and bolts of implementing the "fancier" functional programming features for me.
Chapter 5 is about implementing pattern matching.
You read this kind of stuff and realize how easy things become when you just tackle a problem with the right mindset and abstractions. And this is a book from 1987! We've always had decent answers for a lot of the stuff.
I think it's interesting to flip through if you're a language implementer, though helps to be comfortable with reading some stuff sideways and not understanding every detail.
Reading this conjured some feelings in me. At various points in my career, I’ve wanted to take a sabbatical and go to RC. Having spent the last year in the agentic coding world, the idea of writing code by hand seems quaint and outdated. Many have spoken of this feeling of loss so I’m not saying anything new here, but for some reason reading about RC in 2026 specifically cemented the idea that I’ll probably never write anything by hand again.
Has there been a business started based on work done there? Publishable research results? (that second one is actually a pretty low bar, and yet if there is something it is not easily discoverable)
Here is an honest good faith answer to a pretty aggressively hostile question:
Adult daycare is almost the opposite of what Recurse center is. Recurse is largely unstructured: people do what inspires them and make their own plans. You will find more structure, hand holding and mandatory time wastes in virtually any business than you will at Recurse Center.
A 12 week batch is not a lot of time to carry out a major research project, but it is generally not intended to treat this as a start up incubator. There are other places for that kind of activity. Recurse is a place to freely learn and explore. There are a few companies that have emerged but they are not huge money machines (most companies are not). There is also some interesting research that is done.
Some things that pop into my head immediately are:
Dan Luu's studies of Motion to Photon Latency in keyboard input [1]
Raph Levien's work on Xi [2], and Andrew Kelly's work on Zig [3].
I'm sure there are other people could dig up more examples, but that really isn't the point. A school's purpose is to produce educated people. Recurse is more of an unschool but the aim is to help people learn and think - it should be judged on those terms first and foremost.
From what I see, this is more of a sabbatical time to just explore and enjoy programming without needing a productive end. I've been considering it myself.
I don't get it. Why would you ask if an adult daycare leads to a business or new discoveries? Daycares are for nurturing curiosity and fostering development in a socially engaging environment—much like the Recurse Center—not for publishing papers.
Even if for the sake of argument its conceded it's a "daycare", what's wrong with that? No one's being forced to go there. It's free for the participants. There's no harm in a group that facilitates people exploring what interests them in a setting where others are doing the same.
You are missing the point. On the line between explore and exploit, RC is basically 100% explore. The point is to learn, and more importantly, to flex the muscle of learning without being taught. And to participate in a community of kind and curious people who are also motivated to do the same.
It's weird to say that about a YCombinator-affiliated event on a YCombinator forum. I'm not especially fond of YC but there's pretty clearly potential to make valuable connections in this sphere.
Back in school I found this book[0], "The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages". Flipping through it was very neat because it kinda demystified the nuts and bolts of implementing the "fancier" functional programming features for me.
Chapter 5 is about implementing pattern matching.
You read this kind of stuff and realize how easy things become when you just tackle a problem with the right mindset and abstractions. And this is a book from 1987! We've always had decent answers for a lot of the stuff.
I think it's interesting to flip through if you're a language implementer, though helps to be comfortable with reading some stuff sideways and not understanding every detail.
[0] https://simon.peytonjones.org/assets/pdfs/slpj-book-1987-sea...
Has there been a business started based on work done there? Publishable research results? (that second one is actually a pretty low bar, and yet if there is something it is not easily discoverable)
I'm sure there are other people could dig up more examples, but that really isn't the point. A school's purpose is to produce educated people. Recurse is more of an unschool but the aim is to help people learn and think - it should be judged on those terms first and foremost.
[1] https://danluu.com/input-lag/ [2] https://www.recurse.com/events/localhost-raph-levien [3] https://www.recurse.com/events/localhost-andrew-kelley
You say that like it's a bad thing.