​ChinatownJS is an event hosted by Sanctuary Computer featuring three 10-minute talks by Javascript developers on both technical and non-technical topics. Submit a talk if you’d like to be featured at our next event!

​Whether you’re a pro Typescript developer, student interested in technology, or curious neighbor, all are welcome!

​We reserve a handful free tickets for each event for local youth in our neighborhood. Email us at ctjs@sanctuary.computer to snag one.

​Snacks & drinks will be served.

​Speaker 1

​Jack Carrick — Delete Spotify, All You Need Is a Browser

​I am a musician and programmer exploring community-based approaches to distribute, access, and discover music. In this talk, I explain my process of releasing music through WebTorrent, a JavaScript implementation of BitTorrent over WebRTC in the browser, as well as running federated media servers using recycled computers with my friends. Participants will emerge with a better understanding of Spotify's extractive business model, peer-to-peer protocols, and a practical pathway back to a decentralized, “cozy” internet.

​Speaker 2

​Gracy Whelihan — 5695152282714844 (A String of Random Numbers)

​Randomness is exciting yet complex. For many people, "random" can mean anything from unexpectedly running into a friend on the train to the sheer luck of winning the lottery. But what does true randomness mean, and how do we generate it?
For programmers, true randomness is essential, yet traditional random number generators (like Math.random()) often rely on algorithms that produce pseudo-random numbers.
However, true randomness exists only in nature. To bridge this gap, I developed a random number generator that uses real-time environmental sensor data as a seed for an algorithm hosted on a server. In an attempt to create a more authentic form of randomness by using the unpredictability of our surroundings.

​Speaker 3

​Yufeng Zhao — Indexing All the Text on NYC Street View

​Yufeng shares the process of making alltext.nyc, a search engine for all the text occurrences on Google Street View imagery of New York City, from 2007 to 2024. From street view scraping to running OCR on panoramic images, the talk gives a technical overview and demo across the data processing and the actual search engine. He will also be sharing some interesting finds across the city and a few spinoff projects around this rich dataset.