[Insight-users] HACKCONTEST: Can you code for 24h non-stop ?

[Luis Ibanez]

    http://hackontest.org/index.php?action=Root-about


About Hackontest

Hackontest is a 24 hour programming competition between teams of three
open source software projects. The event takes place at OpenExpo on
September 24/25, 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland.
What are the goals of Hackontest?

The idea of the Hackontest event is three-fold:

* First of all, hackers (=smart programmers) of open source projects
meet physically during 24h and enhance their software with a certain
feature. Thus their Free Software project gets improved in terms of code
and the developers have a fun time meeting in one place and competing
for some nice prizes.
* Second, users of open source software get the opportunity to file
features they've missed in their favorite applications and operating
systems. Therefore, during the selection process everyone who registers
may file feature requests and others may vote and comment on them.
* And third, visitors of the Hackontest event get the chance to see the
commitment and team work with which open source software is created.
Like this, the public becomes more aware of the creative processes and
the power of collaborative effort by international open source communities.

How does the selection process work?

First, register yourself as a Hackontest user. Second, search for a
recorded open source project or file one yourself. Third, submit a
feature a team of three programmers can implement during 24 hours.
Fourth, vote and comment on existing features. If you're a developer of
an open source project you may submit features you'd like to implement.
Or agree on implementing already recorded features and write comments
e.g. if the requirements are too high or too low.

Then, on August 1st 2008, the Hackontest jury will look at the submitted
projects and developers and choose the three participating developer
teams - three persons each - according the highest promoted features and
the most promising hacker profiles. The elected teams are announced
August 10th 2008 on this website.
What happens at the Hackontest competition?

The Hackontest competition starts on September 24, 2008 at 10am and ends
24h hours later. Shortly before the kickoff the jury selects one of the
wished features, favorably one of the highest rated. Then the teams of
hackers start to implement the feature description within the Hackontest
room. This room will be equipped with desks, sofas, Internet, pizza etc.
located within the OpenExpo area. Visitors of the open source conference
and exhibition OpenExpo may look into the Hackontest room and the
screens of the programmers, but they may not enter the room. However,
the Hackontest developers may connect to their outside community through
chat, SVN, wikis etc. thus enlarging their team size virtually in a
unlimited scale.
How are the winners chosen?

By 10am the other day the developers need to commit their newly created
source code to a common repository where the jury members may inspect
the code. In addition, each project team has to compile/integrate the
new feature into the current application version and provide a
executable binary version or some web access for the jury so they can
test the enhanced software. The jury members have 6 hours to review the
code, evaluate the software and make their decision of the winners.
Meantime the hackers get some rest in their hotels.

In addition, the audience attending the Hackontest competition appraises
the 'soft factors' such as team work and collaboration and thus provides
a second vote for the best hacker team. In the end, the winners are
elected by the jury considering the public vote. At the final ceremony
at 4pm on September 25, 2008 the created features will be demonstrated
by the recovered teams and the winners will be awarded.
What do the hackers get for participation?

The participating teams may win cash prizes of USD 1000, 2500 and 5000.
Next to fun and competition, the elected open source developers receive
a free trip to Zurich, Switzerland, including accommodation and meals
from September 23 - 26, 2008 up to USD 1000 each person.
Who is behind Hackontest?

Hackontest is a project of informatica08, organized by the Swiss Open
Systems User Groupd /ch/open and sponsored by Google. The competition is
invented and coordinated by Matthias Stuermer and supported by Leslie
Hawthorn, Hannes Gassert, Emanuel Indermuehle and Stefan Sicher. The
organizers can be reached at contact at hackontest.org
Is this Hackontest web application open source?

Of course! It's released under the GNU GPL v3 and available for download
directly from the SVN repository. The web application is based on the
open source PHP framework Vida.