TaskTracker wins at W&M's First Ever Hackathon
After
24 furious hours of coding, freshman Mike Pozulp and team member Nathan
Schaaf’s productivity tracking app TaskTracker was voted as the best
overall app at the Hackathon, netting the team the $240 prize money.
The second prize of $120, given to the team with the most
technologically interesting feature, was awarded to graduate students
Yue Wang, Xin Qi, and Zhang Xu for their infinite-recursion detection
app.
Given only 24 hours from when they learned the theme of the Hackathon; six teams raced to design, develop, and test their apps before they had to demo their final products. Based on the theme of building something to make programming more efficient, teams implemented ideas ranging from a git workflow monitor to a source code extraction email program. To build these apps, teams used many technological solutions, from Java web frameworks for user management systems to custom source control and some clever PHP. Everyone in attendance was thoroughly impressed by what their fellow classmates built given such a short period of time. Even for those who didn’t take home some extra cash, the amount of knowledge gained was well worth the time they invested.
The
Hackathon took place the weekend of April 7-8, and was the first such
event hosted by the Department of Computer Science. Due to the success
and interest generated, plans are already being made to host another
Hackathon this upcoming Fall. Students can expect a similar event, with
more opportunities to showcase their talents, as well as a revamped
timeline to encourage even more participation. We hope to see you at
the next Hackathon in the Fall!
