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Open Source |
I am playing with the idea that we should encourage all projects to be open source, or at least the code produced during the event should be released on Github. I have setup a #kenthack organisation on Github that could hold all the repositories and all the code, and all I will need to do is create teams and repos and add people to them (so they can push their code to it).
What if people don't have Github? They'll have to get it? (They are free accounts..?) No point in having our own SVN and Trac repo, because that will mean EVERYBODY needs to sign up :/
Why? To remind people that they don't have to finish an entire project by the end of the event. They should have fun, build a prototype, and not worry about security (yet!). The code should be released online, and if they want to take it further then they should be adding in all the security, extra layers, new features, etc. in a new private repo.
It's also a good way to put items on your CV. Public items on the web demonstrates work and shows confidence in it.
Employers (especially employers for startups and other small businesses) love seeing code examples on the web. Imagine what they think when they see something like this in a CV:
I attended kenthack, a hackathon based at my university, where I made FindMe, a people tracking app for Androids. Published to GitHub after the event. http://github.com/kenthack/2012-FindMe
Repository names should follow a "{Year}-{Name}" structure (kenthack/2012-myamazingproject), and we add people's GitHub accounts to teams on the kenthack page, and then link teams to each repository so they can push and pull code :).
Will need to create an admin / helper team, and add that team to all repos so helpers can push and pull code to help people :)
Obviously this won't be enforced. If people don't want their code public then that is their decision. But it should definitely be encouraged. And made as simple to do!
Github, based on Git, also offers version control, which make coding in teams really simple :) We can also offer help to those new / having difficulties with Git & Github, since the helpers I have in mind are fairly confident and proficient with Git.
Github also have released Mac & Windows apps that make interacting with Github easy, which is perfect for beginners just getting started with Github!
I've setup an example repo - what I imagine a repo would look like after a hackathon - for you to see. The repo is at github.com/kenthack/2012-example and the site for it is at kenthack.com/2012-example.
(The site itself is a simple Github pages site, on the gh-pages branch of the Github repo. Because it's under the kenthack organization on Github, the gh-pages site gets put under the kenthack.com domain!).