Cool Code: 24-Hour Hackathon to Create Unique Sites, Apps, Mobile Platforms and More

A University of Cincinnati hackathon, hosted by UC's Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) student chapter and the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), will be held in the UC CEAS Learning Center April 5-6, 2014. The hackathon, titled “

Revolution UC

,” begins at

3 p.m. on Saturday and will draw to a close with an award ceremony at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

What is a hackathon you ask? Jonah Back, head of UC’s ACM student chapter and co-organizer of

Revolution UC

, explains:

“A

hack

is applying your knowledge about computing in an effort to solve a problem that someone else may not even know they have. A

hackathon

is a continuous 24-hour period in which the brightest minds in the computer science field come together to give it all they’ve got to create the best hack possible.”

During a hackathon

,

students

are continuously supplied with caffeine and food as they

build unique websites, mobile apps or hardware hacks

over 24 hours. At the end of the programming period, participants present their resulting hacks to a panel of judges (often organizers and sponsors) who then select winners for various prizes. Winners of these computer science competitions are awarded anything from t-shirts and hardware credits to substantial cash amounts.

Hackathons have taken the country by storm lately, as an event niche that gives programmers the rare opportunity to meet to do collaborative computer programming. As a testament to their ever-growing popularity, two of the largest student hackathons,

PennApps

and

MHacks

, brought together over 1,000 hack-generating individuals from universities worldwide.

And students aren’t the only ones who are displaying a vast interest in these events—numerous well-known companies such as

Google

,

Linked In

, and

Apple

attend hackathons in search of future employees. Therefore, these events are increasingly being considered as a “Career Fair 2.0,” allowing students the chance to showcase their innovative handiwork to potential employers.

UC is now joining the renowned hackfest ranks with this hackathon,

Revolution UC

.

Over 150 participants are expected to make UC their home for the productive weekend.

Deep India

,

Jenco Brothers’ Candy

,

Mio’s

, and

Taste of Belgium

have volunteered to keep the troops well nourished, and various UC professors are providing “Tech Talks” about the latest and greatest computer science technologies.

Revolution UC

, organized by CEAS computer science students

Jonah Back

and

Shyamal Ruparel

, along with the support of computer science faculty, is being sponsored by:

CEAS

,

UCIT

,

zipscene

,

The Brandery

,

Cardinal Solutions

,

Differential

,

Lob

,

Roadtrippers

,

Gaslight

,

sparkfun

,

GitHub

,

stickermule

,

Wolfram

,

Asus

, and

namecheap

.

Is your team ready to join Revolution UC?

For more information about

Revolution UC

, please visit:

http://revolutionuc.com/

For more information about ACM, please visit:

http://ceas.uc.edu/news-1213/acm-recharges-its-batteries.html

For more information about the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science, please visit:

http://ceas.uc.edu