About 30 University of Ottawa students participated in a 24-hour “hackathon” Feb. 16-17, as part of an initiative to encourage students to learn more about computer coding.
A “hackathon” is a coding competition, typically lasting a full day, in which competitors, usually in teams of four, are given an objective and a time limit.
At the UOttawa competition, students were given a robotic tank to program, which they battled against each other. The winners were those who had best programmed their tank to anticipate the moves of their competitors.
The event was organized by second-year UOttawa student Antoine Grondin, who said the goal of the competition was to “instill a desire to code” in students, and to fill a void at the university.
“There is currently no event of this nature held on the campus,” Grondin said via email. “There are many other kind of events organized by. . . the Engineering Student Society (ESS). . . but those are mostly social events.”
The event was sponsored by Noteshares, a recent startup company founded by UOttawa student Brenden Palmer.
Sponsorship included prizes for the winners and energy drinks for competitors, Grondin said, while Noteshares will also be interviewing the winners for possible summer jobs or internships.
“We were interested in sponsoring the event because it encourages good, talented people to come together and have fun doing what they love to do,” Palmer said.
Although the event was limited to the 30 participants, the interest level was much higher, according to Grondin.
“More were interested, but for this first iteration we wanted to keep the numbers low,” he said, adding that with the continued support of the faculty, he would like to eventually host a “hackathon” every month or so.
“I want to plant a seed of initiative into students who need it, and spark those who already have it and just need a little help in getting started,” Grondin said.
Overall, he wants students to realize that it’s easy to code, “without waiting for an assignment.”
But despite initiatives such as the “hackathon,” most primary schools still aren’t teaching students to code, which is problematic according to a recent viral Youtube video.
“What most schools don’t teach” has nearly 10 million views, and presents interviews with Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey among others, all of whom are experienced coders.
The video, created by non-profit foundation code.org, is part of a growing effort to encourage schools to offer coding classes to their students due to the skills they teach.
“Coding is in itself solving a problem,” according to Justin Campbell, a computer science student and past president of the Computer Science Society at Carleton. Campbell said Carleton often hosts similar events to the “hackathon,” such as the Great Canadian “Appathon,” which is dedicated to building computer games.
“In the process [of coding] you’re figuring out a way to explain your solution to other people,” Campbell said.
“It is the very basis of problem solving, and communicating with others.”
