Jean-Alexandre Barszcz


jalex_b [at] hotmail [dot] com

Skills and Abilities

Computer Engineering skills

C/C++, Python, Erlang, Haskell, Ocaml, Agda, Scheme, Java, Bash, XSLT, x86-64 assembly, GNU/Linux, Nix/NixOS, Git, Emacs, GDB, LaTeX, Claude Code

General abilities

Communication
Fast learner
Knowledge sharing

Languages

French (native)
English (professional proficiency)

Projects

2025 -
Co-maintainer of papis.el
Emacs LispNix
  • Added an integration with the citar bibliographic package.
  • Helped with a clean-up of the existing Emacs Lisp codebase.
  • Implemented integration and mock testing.
2026
Author of breezipe
XSLTNix
  • Designed an XML-based recipe markup format that renders recipes' flow as compact ingredient-and-step summary tables.
  • Implemented the layout algorithm in the esoteric tree-rewriting language XSLT 1.0.
2023 - 2024
Version-dependent types (PhD)
Haskell
  • Tackled "dependency hell" by implementing a Haskell library for bounded version-dependent types
  • Enabled single functions to work across multiple versions of evolving data types, with version compatibility verified at compile time
  • Built tooling to diff and mine datatype changes across Hackage package version histories
2021 - 2023
Elaboration reflection (PhD proposal)
OCaml
  • Prototyped elaboration reflection for Typer with the goal of a safer approach to metaprogramming
  • Debugged and explained a performance regression by instrumenting the Typer interpreter for its observability using flamecharts
2022 - 2023
Closure conversion formalization (PhD)
Agda

Professional experience

2020
Teaching assistant for two courses
SchemeCx86-64 assemblyGDBHaskell
Université de Montréal
2017 - 2018
Software Developer in the Backend team
ErlangC++
Adgear
  • Accelerated encoding of (Erlang) records to JSON by producing native code (C++) from type specs and annotations, avoiding the interpretation overhead.
  • Microbenchmarked a 4x acceleration on production data and validated correctness with property-based tests.
  • Integrated the tool as a build plugin.
2016
Software Engineering Intern on the kunwind project
CLinux
Distributed Open Reliable Systems Analysis Lab (DORSAL)
École Polytechnique de Montréal
  • Developed the initial kernel module and user-space library for unwinding call-stacks from the kernel, enabling richer lttng tracepoint context for observability.
2015
Software Engineering Intern in the PDK team of the IP Group
PythonSQLRESTSKILL (Lisp)
Cadence Design Systems
  • Accelerated the distributed deployment of an internal software suite from 2 hours to a minute, and added a Jenkins dashboard with alerts, streamlining administration and reducing delays and barriers to collaboration.
  • Developed a GUI tool, in the SKILL dialect of Lisp/Scheme, that performed multiple quality checks on IP blocks.

Education and training

2021 - 2024
PhD in Computer Science (ABD)
Université de Montréal
2022
Oregon Programming Languages Summer School (OPLSS)
University of Oregon
2019 - 2021
Master's in Computer Science
Université de Montréal
2013 - 2018
B. Eng. in Computer Engineering
École Polytechnique de Montréal

Honors and awards

2018
Second place in the Functional Programming category
2017
Second place in the Artificial Intelligence category
2015
First place in the Embedded category
2014
Third place in the Embedded category
CS Games inter-university computer science competition (teams of 2-3)
2013
First place in Canada
Canadian Association of Physicists High School/Cegep Prize Exam

Other experience

2019
Organizer of the functional programming competition
Haskell
CS Games's 2019 organizing committee
2016
Organizer responsible for the challenges of the programming competition
HaskellPython
The Computer Engineering Student Association (fr. CEGInfo)
  • Designed algorithmic challenges covering graph search, dynamic programming, and combinatorics.
  • Recruited people to write additionnal challenges.
  • Evaluated participants' submissions.
  • Presented the awards at the closing ceremony.
2014 - 2016
Treasurer
2013 - 2016
Member of the navigation team
Technical student club Élikos at Polytechnique
  • First place in North America at the International Aerial Robotics Competition in 2014, 2015, and 2016

Interests and activities

Inline skating, cycling, bouldering, sailing, riding a unicycle, slacklining, playing hockey