CodeDay was my first hackathon event and it was unlike any coding experience I have ever had before. The event was 24 hours of (potentially) non-stop coding/coding activities. This was initially somewhat intimidating because I was afraid that my lack of extra-curricular coding experience would prevent me from being able to contribute. Even so, I was excited to be able to have a new experience to learn and improve myself.
When I arrived, whatever hesitation I had quickly faded away, as those moderating were all very welcoming and helpful. The other attendees were either excited to be at the event or were also attending a hackathon for their first time and were just as curious as me. Before we broke off into groups and began working on projects “workshops” of various experience levels were held in which some ideas were given out. We were then free to form our groups and begin programming whatever program/project/game we wanted. Helpers were available throughout the day helping anyone who wanted it. By the end of the day I had my very own game.
At this event I was able to see and be involved with many different programmers with different experiences and ideas from my own. We all were able to combine our skills to create new and creative projects which wouldn’t have been possible individually. The experience was all around fun and provided a nice change of pace from what I’m accustomed to when programming. I was able for the first time to experience programming within a group and see coding from different perspectives. I’m glad I had this opportunity and hope to be able to attend many different similar events in the near future.
I had never been to a Hackathon so I didn’t know what to expect of CodeDay. I went with some classmates, but we had no idea what we were going to be making. Luckily we were approached but a team looking for more people and we just joined. All being said we ended up creating a website. I learned so much during the Hackathon. I know some python, but the depth we went into was insane. I learned how to use libraries and setup file structures. For example, we used Python, Flask to create a local server, html to be the pages, jinja2, and ngrok to create a tunnel to get a free, temp website. First thing first I learned how to use Flask to run a server from a .py file and create routes to different web-pages. I then learned how to connect ngrok and our Flask server together. That gave us a domain that anyone with internet could get on. Then as a group we worked on creating the html files to flesh out our website. Using the jinja2 library to organize the content of the site. I also had the opportunity to talk with several mentors and ask them about the profession and how they got to where they were, what they would recommend, etc. I would absolutely attend another hackathon, I learned more than I thought possible for such a relatively short period, had a lot of fun, and made several friends. I am actually planning to go with some friends out of school really soon.
Wow, I was astonished by my experience at CodeDay. My expectations for this event were not very high. I had initially associated Hackathons with the words “evil” and “hard” as I was sure that I would completely flop before getting to the site. When my friend suggested participating in CodeDay and inquiring Mr. Bauer for permission to do so, I was for it as a “less stressful hackathon” (my friend’s words) sounded great to me.
Now, I can’t wait until I get to attend a full hackathon, and here’s why.
I decided to go with a group of 1st-year CS majors from my floor, which helped me feel more comfortable as we got there. When I arrived, I didn’t feel as intimidated. It turns out, many of the people there were mere novices with coding and many of the concepts I had some knowledge on.
Continuing, I learned a lot during this experience. We were mentored for about five hours, going through specific steps of creating our program with someone in the industry. Our idea was creating a rhythm game for classical music that could interface with a controller. Questions that would arise were: “What programming language would we use?” “How will the UI look?” “How will we score the player?”
I was able to get a good handle on creating art assets for our game and do some research on the Python libraries that we used. I learned a lot about these things in Python and have a clearer direction of where to continue with my learning of the programming language. I also got an introduction to GitHub repositories, which are AMAZING! I didn’t understand their importance until this project. Participating in projects in keeping busy is something employers look for in their potential hires.
We didn’t complete our project, but this experience is something that I will not forget. I got an idea of where my current skillset can apply to different projects. I also plan on taking steps to improve my CS skills using what I learned here and building a good GitHub repo. I’m glad that multiple people who attended this event are coming back with good memories and skills that they can apply elsewhere.
I attended CodeDay last year and I remember it being lots of fun. I made a bunch of new friends, used Python for the first time to create a program, and learned how to work with a team. There were multiple mentors walking around helping people with their projects. So anyways, I was quite excited to attend CodeDay again this year.
I had just recently bought a new computer, so I did not have anything set up on my computer that required for my team’s project i.e. Python, a Python IDE, pip, and Github. It was a relief to have my team help download and install everything, as I feel I would have had a little trouble doing so on my own. Also, it had been quite a while since I used Github, so learning how to use Github again from one of my teammates was extremely helpful. I was also introduced to tkinter and PyGame.
The only way in which I feel I understand computer science more is that, though multiple programmers are needed to create a good program effeciently, the program could be better and more efficiently produced when programmers work in collaberation with people of other proffessions. For example, having a graphical designer to make a program with visuals or having a writer for a program involving a story would greatly increase both the quality of the program and the efficiency in making it. I realized this because, as a team of only four programmers, none of us would rather produce the art for our project than code the program.
I like the idea of CodeDay, but based on my experience from CodeDay this year, I would not go again. Whereas last year groups had large and flushed out workspaces that were somewhat or completely isolated from the other working groups, everyone had to work in the same loud, cramped workspace where it was hard to connect with everyone in the group. Also, the food was bad and there was not enough of it. Though the mentorship was extremely helpful, I would feel more at ease just creating projects with others at IIT.
This is my second time attending a codeday Chicago event so I had some previous knowledge about how things work and felt prepared and excited going into it. During my first time at code day my team consisted of me and the members of my high school robotics team working on a fighting game. To my surprise, immediately upon entering the event last weekend, my entire robotics team was there to greet me(completely unplanned). It was wonderful seeing all of them again so I joined their team and we were on our way.
The Project we chose to do was a space exploration game coded in C++. I have never worked with C++ so the first thing I learned at this event was the basics of the syntax of the language. Using references to languages I am familiar with, my robotics team friends taught me how to code in the language so I can contribute to the project. On top of that I also learned a bit of the logic that goes into creating a physics engine due to the fact that our game had a physics engine that allowed the ship to fly around with no gravity in space and react to the gravitational pull of the planets passing by. Lastly, I learned how to use Git GUI for pushing and pulling code to and from my teammates (I really enjoyed using that because it was extremely organized and efficient).
I will definitely be attending another codeday in the future with my old robotics teammates because the amount of talent and coordination we have within that group just makes group coding an extremely enjoyable experience.
CodeDay is the first hackathon that I had attended. Since this was my first time attending a coding event, I felt anxious. However, my anxiety level lowered knowing that some of my friends also needed to attend a hackathon, so we planned to meet up. Upon entering the building, two people kindly greeted and showed us the general location where the hackathon is going to be held. While at CodeDay, my friends and I were approached by two other people who wanted us to join their group for their project idea. Our group proposed using python which some of us had no experience in, so we had a staff to help us set up Python on our laptop and ended up learning Python to code a functioning website. Furthermore, we used Flask to help us set up our local server and Ngork deal with the tunneling. We also integrated HTML since it’s a website based, which I was familiar with and I also learned more about, to make the website user-friendly. By the end of the day, we had somewhat of a finished product that could function. Overall, I had a blast at the hackathon and also made new friends. For future hackathons, I would love to attend another.
Before going into the CodeDay Chicago hackathon I was honestly unsure if I’d even be let in! I had waited too long to buy a ticket, and there were no walk-up tickets available for me to purchase at the time. However, I decided to go with my group anyway just to see if they’d give me a break and let me in. Thankfully, they did! I had attended a hackathon prior to this event, the BuiltWorlds Hackathon. At the BuiltWorlds hackathon, I learned a lot about multiple coding languages and APIs because we had to work within specific boundaries of the challenges set to us by the companies. At CodeDay Chicago however, I was able to use a coding language that I am relatively familiar with, and I knew that going in. Because of this, I was not extremely intimidated by this event and was excited to use my knowledge to build a project. We used Python 3 to create our game, a language that I learned how to use (to an extent) in high school computer science class. While I did not step too far out of my comfort zone with the language, I did learn how to use classes within Python and how to use Pygame, a library for Python that makes game and GUI creation very easy. I definitely would attend an event like this again. Unlike the BuiltWorlds hackathon, this one was geared towards students rather than industry professionals, so we actually had a fighting chance of winning something! The feeling of being a legitimate competitor was a feeling that drove me to try harder than I did at the other hackathon that I attended. The only downside to this experience was that they ONLY had seltzer there to drink and nothing else.
A previous CodeDay event was my first experience with a hackathon. Like the first, this did not disappoint. The event consisted of 24 hours of programming where we were able to meet other like-minded people as well as expand our interests. I was able to meet up with friends who were my junior and still in an FTC robotics team, touching base with them on their strategies for winning their competition. I was also able to help another friend with their game project by helping them plan out the logic for Construct 3, while continuing to work on my goals of developing a modular database for a personal video game project.
If there were criticisms, it was that this year the venue was one large, slightly crowded space where there wasn’t much space for groups to find a quiet space, and simply sleeping for a few hours was a difficult affair.
I’ve never been to a hackathon before so I had no idea what to expect. At CodeDay, I met a lot of smart people who were at various levels of programming. Like the others previously mentioned, the space is very large, but it quickly crowded up. My friends and I didn’t have an idea of what project to work on during codeday, so we decided to join another group who had an interesting idea. My group used different languages like flask, python, and ngork to set up a server so we can communicate with each other over different computers. We didn’t make much progress over the 24 overs, but we did manage to create a shell code of our overall goal. The event was very fun, the food wasn’t that great (don’t worry, there’s a Portillo’s nearby), and there was not a place to sleep except for the chairs.
P.S. Bring a pillow if you plan to sleep. Sleeping on your arm cuts off circulation.
This was my first coding event. I was both hesitant and excited to go because I wasn’t sure how I could compare to the other students there. My group and I had a rough idea of what we would do before we went, but it was still a little overwhelming knowing I had to come up with and do an entire project in a single day. Most of the fears were quelled immediately when I talked to other students and realized we had the same levels of experience, and the amount of help we would receive. Overall, I had nothing to worry about.
One of the greatest things this project helped me understand about computer science is the steps it takes to complete anything our group spent multiple hours talking through all the details of our plan with a professional, and she helped us manage the project through GitHub and helped us download python IDEs.
I would like to attend an activity like this again in the near future. I learned quite a bit about the coding process and project management, as well as working with a team. The one complaint I had was the lack of quality refreshments, as there was no water, only seltzer.
CodeDay was my first hackathon event and it was unlike any coding experience I have ever had before. The event was 24 hours of (potentially) non-stop coding/coding activities. This was initially somewhat intimidating because I was afraid that my lack of extra-curricular coding experience would prevent me from being able to contribute. Even so, I was excited to be able to have a new experience to learn and improve myself.
When I arrived, whatever hesitation I had quickly faded away, as those moderating were all very welcoming and helpful. The other attendees were either excited to be at the event or were also attending a hackathon for their first time and were just as curious as me. Before we broke off into groups and began working on projects “workshops” of various experience levels were held in which some ideas were given out. We were then free to form our groups and begin programming whatever program/project/game we wanted. Helpers were available throughout the day helping anyone who wanted it. By the end of the day I had my very own game.
At this event I was able to see and be involved with many different programmers with different experiences and ideas from my own. We all were able to combine our skills to create new and creative projects which wouldn’t have been possible individually. The experience was all around fun and provided a nice change of pace from what I’m accustomed to when programming. I was able for the first time to experience programming within a group and see coding from different perspectives. I’m glad I had this opportunity and hope to be able to attend many different similar events in the near future.
I had never been to a Hackathon so I didn’t know what to expect of CodeDay. I went with some classmates, but we had no idea what we were going to be making. Luckily we were approached but a team looking for more people and we just joined. All being said we ended up creating a website. I learned so much during the Hackathon. I know some python, but the depth we went into was insane. I learned how to use libraries and setup file structures. For example, we used Python, Flask to create a local server, html to be the pages, jinja2, and ngrok to create a tunnel to get a free, temp website. First thing first I learned how to use Flask to run a server from a .py file and create routes to different web-pages. I then learned how to connect ngrok and our Flask server together. That gave us a domain that anyone with internet could get on. Then as a group we worked on creating the html files to flesh out our website. Using the jinja2 library to organize the content of the site. I also had the opportunity to talk with several mentors and ask them about the profession and how they got to where they were, what they would recommend, etc. I would absolutely attend another hackathon, I learned more than I thought possible for such a relatively short period, had a lot of fun, and made several friends. I am actually planning to go with some friends out of school really soon.
Wow, I was astonished by my experience at CodeDay. My expectations for this event were not very high. I had initially associated Hackathons with the words “evil” and “hard” as I was sure that I would completely flop before getting to the site. When my friend suggested participating in CodeDay and inquiring Mr. Bauer for permission to do so, I was for it as a “less stressful hackathon” (my friend’s words) sounded great to me.
Now, I can’t wait until I get to attend a full hackathon, and here’s why.
I decided to go with a group of 1st-year CS majors from my floor, which helped me feel more comfortable as we got there. When I arrived, I didn’t feel as intimidated. It turns out, many of the people there were mere novices with coding and many of the concepts I had some knowledge on.
Continuing, I learned a lot during this experience. We were mentored for about five hours, going through specific steps of creating our program with someone in the industry. Our idea was creating a rhythm game for classical music that could interface with a controller. Questions that would arise were: “What programming language would we use?” “How will the UI look?” “How will we score the player?”
I was able to get a good handle on creating art assets for our game and do some research on the Python libraries that we used. I learned a lot about these things in Python and have a clearer direction of where to continue with my learning of the programming language. I also got an introduction to GitHub repositories, which are AMAZING! I didn’t understand their importance until this project. Participating in projects in keeping busy is something employers look for in their potential hires.
We didn’t complete our project, but this experience is something that I will not forget. I got an idea of where my current skillset can apply to different projects. I also plan on taking steps to improve my CS skills using what I learned here and building a good GitHub repo. I’m glad that multiple people who attended this event are coming back with good memories and skills that they can apply elsewhere.
I attended CodeDay last year and I remember it being lots of fun. I made a bunch of new friends, used Python for the first time to create a program, and learned how to work with a team. There were multiple mentors walking around helping people with their projects. So anyways, I was quite excited to attend CodeDay again this year.
I had just recently bought a new computer, so I did not have anything set up on my computer that required for my team’s project i.e. Python, a Python IDE, pip, and Github. It was a relief to have my team help download and install everything, as I feel I would have had a little trouble doing so on my own. Also, it had been quite a while since I used Github, so learning how to use Github again from one of my teammates was extremely helpful. I was also introduced to tkinter and PyGame.
The only way in which I feel I understand computer science more is that, though multiple programmers are needed to create a good program effeciently, the program could be better and more efficiently produced when programmers work in collaberation with people of other proffessions. For example, having a graphical designer to make a program with visuals or having a writer for a program involving a story would greatly increase both the quality of the program and the efficiency in making it. I realized this because, as a team of only four programmers, none of us would rather produce the art for our project than code the program.
I like the idea of CodeDay, but based on my experience from CodeDay this year, I would not go again. Whereas last year groups had large and flushed out workspaces that were somewhat or completely isolated from the other working groups, everyone had to work in the same loud, cramped workspace where it was hard to connect with everyone in the group. Also, the food was bad and there was not enough of it. Though the mentorship was extremely helpful, I would feel more at ease just creating projects with others at IIT.
This is my second time attending a codeday Chicago event so I had some previous knowledge about how things work and felt prepared and excited going into it. During my first time at code day my team consisted of me and the members of my high school robotics team working on a fighting game. To my surprise, immediately upon entering the event last weekend, my entire robotics team was there to greet me(completely unplanned). It was wonderful seeing all of them again so I joined their team and we were on our way.
The Project we chose to do was a space exploration game coded in C++. I have never worked with C++ so the first thing I learned at this event was the basics of the syntax of the language. Using references to languages I am familiar with, my robotics team friends taught me how to code in the language so I can contribute to the project. On top of that I also learned a bit of the logic that goes into creating a physics engine due to the fact that our game had a physics engine that allowed the ship to fly around with no gravity in space and react to the gravitational pull of the planets passing by. Lastly, I learned how to use Git GUI for pushing and pulling code to and from my teammates (I really enjoyed using that because it was extremely organized and efficient).
I will definitely be attending another codeday in the future with my old robotics teammates because the amount of talent and coordination we have within that group just makes group coding an extremely enjoyable experience.
CodeDay is the first hackathon that I had attended. Since this was my first time attending a coding event, I felt anxious. However, my anxiety level lowered knowing that some of my friends also needed to attend a hackathon, so we planned to meet up. Upon entering the building, two people kindly greeted and showed us the general location where the hackathon is going to be held. While at CodeDay, my friends and I were approached by two other people who wanted us to join their group for their project idea. Our group proposed using python which some of us had no experience in, so we had a staff to help us set up Python on our laptop and ended up learning Python to code a functioning website. Furthermore, we used Flask to help us set up our local server and Ngork deal with the tunneling. We also integrated HTML since it’s a website based, which I was familiar with and I also learned more about, to make the website user-friendly. By the end of the day, we had somewhat of a finished product that could function. Overall, I had a blast at the hackathon and also made new friends. For future hackathons, I would love to attend another.
Before going into the CodeDay Chicago hackathon I was honestly unsure if I’d even be let in! I had waited too long to buy a ticket, and there were no walk-up tickets available for me to purchase at the time. However, I decided to go with my group anyway just to see if they’d give me a break and let me in. Thankfully, they did! I had attended a hackathon prior to this event, the BuiltWorlds Hackathon. At the BuiltWorlds hackathon, I learned a lot about multiple coding languages and APIs because we had to work within specific boundaries of the challenges set to us by the companies. At CodeDay Chicago however, I was able to use a coding language that I am relatively familiar with, and I knew that going in. Because of this, I was not extremely intimidated by this event and was excited to use my knowledge to build a project. We used Python 3 to create our game, a language that I learned how to use (to an extent) in high school computer science class. While I did not step too far out of my comfort zone with the language, I did learn how to use classes within Python and how to use Pygame, a library for Python that makes game and GUI creation very easy. I definitely would attend an event like this again. Unlike the BuiltWorlds hackathon, this one was geared towards students rather than industry professionals, so we actually had a fighting chance of winning something! The feeling of being a legitimate competitor was a feeling that drove me to try harder than I did at the other hackathon that I attended. The only downside to this experience was that they ONLY had seltzer there to drink and nothing else.
A previous CodeDay event was my first experience with a hackathon. Like the first, this did not disappoint. The event consisted of 24 hours of programming where we were able to meet other like-minded people as well as expand our interests. I was able to meet up with friends who were my junior and still in an FTC robotics team, touching base with them on their strategies for winning their competition. I was also able to help another friend with their game project by helping them plan out the logic for Construct 3, while continuing to work on my goals of developing a modular database for a personal video game project.
If there were criticisms, it was that this year the venue was one large, slightly crowded space where there wasn’t much space for groups to find a quiet space, and simply sleeping for a few hours was a difficult affair.
I’ve never been to a hackathon before so I had no idea what to expect. At CodeDay, I met a lot of smart people who were at various levels of programming. Like the others previously mentioned, the space is very large, but it quickly crowded up. My friends and I didn’t have an idea of what project to work on during codeday, so we decided to join another group who had an interesting idea. My group used different languages like flask, python, and ngork to set up a server so we can communicate with each other over different computers. We didn’t make much progress over the 24 overs, but we did manage to create a shell code of our overall goal. The event was very fun, the food wasn’t that great (don’t worry, there’s a Portillo’s nearby), and there was not a place to sleep except for the chairs.
P.S. Bring a pillow if you plan to sleep. Sleeping on your arm cuts off circulation.
This was my first coding event. I was both hesitant and excited to go because I wasn’t sure how I could compare to the other students there. My group and I had a rough idea of what we would do before we went, but it was still a little overwhelming knowing I had to come up with and do an entire project in a single day. Most of the fears were quelled immediately when I talked to other students and realized we had the same levels of experience, and the amount of help we would receive. Overall, I had nothing to worry about.
One of the greatest things this project helped me understand about computer science is the steps it takes to complete anything our group spent multiple hours talking through all the details of our plan with a professional, and she helped us manage the project through GitHub and helped us download python IDEs.
I would like to attend an activity like this again in the near future. I learned quite a bit about the coding process and project management, as well as working with a team. The one complaint I had was the lack of quality refreshments, as there was no water, only seltzer.