Changing What We Know Of Coding
Live Coda 2006 has happened, and I only just found out about it.
For those who don’t want to follow the link ..
Teams of two, three or four programmers will compete during the evening to solve a simple task (basic input/output and array manipulation) in the shortest time possible.
With each programmer on a separate machine working on a single shared program source projected onto Loops 23 foot screen.
Prizes are awarded for fastest solution time, so team collaboration is going to be more important than pure programming ability.
Tell me that doesn’t sound like a blast. Getting to combine, not just solo, with other programmers to achieve a very time-restricted goal. It’s like an episode of 24 .. except each ep is ten minutes long.
This kind of exciting take on development is awesome. It really is. To sensationalise the world of programming. Sensationalise in a good way. I hope we see more of it.
Stu,
Sounds a bit more intense than what we used to have here. I forget the name of the competition, but teams of 3 developers must build a working application in a day. The complete design specs are given to each team.
The next day, each entry is judged. Many teams using mainstream products barely finish. I’ve only known this competition done 3 times. Each time MAGIC wins (they sponsor the competition ) and I believe the team using Clarion always comes in 2nd.
The winning program is always donated to the worthy cause outlined in the design specs.
BTW - I’ve not heard of MAGIC in a long time. May explain why there has not been another competition recently. But I think there was one held in Europe. Radventure participated in that one.
Comment by Russ Eggen — June 16, 2006 @ 9:54 pm
Speaking of changing what we know of coding, I got this rather interesting comment a few minutes ago:
“russ .. today was a landmark for my dev life .. i suddenly realised that i hadn’t put into practice what i learnt from your seminar at conference ..”
Another notch in my variable watch list.
Comment by Russ Eggen — June 17, 2006 @ 3:37 am
I looked into their website (MAGIC), or at least, what google told me was their website. Looks like they’re still working on a product(s).
I definately think that we should put together something like this for the clarion world. A bunch of clarion teams do this .. and then .. shazam, we can pimp it like crazy.
Have a weekend, where you have to write original code, come up with an original idea, and you’ve got 24 hours or something like that to complete as much as you can.
There’d be a topic, to guide the purpose of submissions, and there’d have to be some kind of goal (prize).
Anyway, just babbling thoughts.
Comment by Stu — June 19, 2006 @ 10:03 am
Stu,
If you are interested in that sort of intellectual exercise, have a gander over at http://www.topcoder.com for some ideas.
Comment by Brett — June 21, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Cheers for the link Brett. Having a gander now :).
Comment by Stu — June 21, 2006 @ 7:02 pm