24 Hour Coding Contest - PHP Throwdown

Elizabeth

Hi all,
I'm putting together the first PHP Throwdown, which is a test to see who can put together the best app in 24 hours. I'd like to encourage everyone here to either compete or get involved in the planning process - it should be a good time!

It will be happening on January 27, 2007, so mark your calendars.

For more details visit http://www.phpthrowdown.com or contact me.

laserlight

Sounds cool. Will Weedpacket be one of the judges?

vaaaska

I don't want to commit...but I already have an idea. It might not qualify as an app though...hmmm.

vaaaska

I'm curious how it will work. I could start building this now...honing it to perfection before things begin. Or, I could just use something I've done before (which is essentially what most people will do I believe).

Xenon_Design

Im confident my PHP is good enough 🙂 Ill give it a go i guess...ill have a look at the site and get back to you.

Elizabeth

vaaaska wrote:
I'm curious how it will work. I could start building this now...honing it to perfection before things begin. Or, I could just use something I've done before (which is essentially what most people will do I believe).

?

Hey vaaaska,
The rules state that all coding must take place within the 24 hour period. You can have a rough sketch of what you want to do and a rough database schema worked out on paper, but no coding done before hand.

We have a few safeguards in place but of course people could find a way to get around them. I think the key is that anyone who cheats is really missing the point, and we'd rather they just grow up and not compete. So nyah nyah nyah 😛.

😃

Piranha

It looks like a good idea if you can solve the problems that vaaaska talks about. Unfortunatley I am not good enough to compete myself, my chance to win would be somewhere between insignificant and none. And since I don't like to get beaten without any chance to win I won't compete.

But I do have a question that I think you should think of. Are people allowed to use functions and classes that they already have? As an example I have a database class (connecting, run queries, escape and other database functions). With that class I would get a slight advantage, but without it I would get a disadvantage. I can understand both ways of setting the rules, but I think it should be printed out to avoid misunderstandings.

Elizabeth

Pirahna,
We are still trying to nail down the details as far as using frameworks go - these would be the only things allowed, none of your own code will be allowed to have been coded beforehand.

And it's a shame that we can't all be on the honor system; I personally don't see why that's such a hard concept; it's all for fun anyway. We won't be offering any cash or prizes to the winners, only bragging rights. We may have something available for all the particpants, but we're still working on that too.

Hopefully you'll be able to join in!

dream_scape

Elizabeth wrote:
And it's a shame that we can't all be on the honor system; I personally don't see why that's such a hard concept

I don't think that is the problem. A few people will always think of cheating, but I think more people than usually are here because of the ridiculous time constraint. 24 hours to code a useful library might be easier to swallow, but 24 hours to code a complete application from the ground up is sheer lunacy, IMO. Most people do have at least something of a life, families, jobs, and do tend to sleep. That leaves the average person with maybe 5 or 6 hours at most to actually do the coding supposing they don't want any down time to relax after a hard day's work.

I'm still up in the air as to whether I will participate or not, and it really depends on what the genre of applications we have to choose from are. And even when those are decided, I don't find it very likely I will participate given the near impossibility of the task.

For a 24 hour "throwdown" contest, I personally would be much more receptive to the contest if it was something more practical for the time frame. For example, a few different problems could be proposed, and the goal of the contest was to pick one and try to come up with the best way you know how to implement a solution to it. Then there would be something to judge on by comparison, and bragging rights could be awarded to different categories, such as most innovative approach, most unique approach, most elegant approach, most elaborate approach, most overly complex approach, most confusing approach, silliest approach, best overall approach, etc...

That does read as a "throwdown" to me, would be fun, and is also something that is possible to do within 24 hours, but hey that is just me. I'll keep quiet now.

Elizabeth

dream.scape wrote:
I don't think that is the problem. A few people will always think of cheating, but I think more people than usually are here because of the ridiculous time constraint. 24 hours to code a useful library might be easier to swallow, but 24 hours to code a complete application from the ground up is sheer lunacy, IMO. Most people do have at least something of a life, families, jobs, and do tend to sleep. That leaves the average person with maybe 5 or 6 hours at most to actually do the coding supposing they don't want any down time to relax after a hard day's work.

FWIW, the app certainly doesn't have to be anything fancy - we're talking about simple stuff here, not a "myspace" replacement that has to be enterprise-ready. As well, the contest will take place on a Friday-Saturday/Saturday-Sunday depending on what part of the world you're in and it's just meant to be a fun excuse to lock yourself in a room for a while with some Red Bull and see what you can crank out.

While you're welcome to participate as an individual, you're also welcome to team up with others to increase your coding power, if the task seems daunting to you to go it alone. Of course, the more people you have on the team, the more coordination it takes, so there is a trade-off.

I'm still up in the air as to whether I will participate or not, and it really depends on what the genre of applications we have to choose from are. And even when those are decided, I don't find it very likely I will participate given the near impossibility of the task.

For a 24 hour "throwdown" contest, I personally would be much more receptive to the contest if it was something more practical for the time frame. For example, a few different problems could be proposed, and the goal of the contest was to pick one and try to come up with the best way you know how to implement a solution to it. Then there would be something to judge on by comparison, and bragging rights could be awarded to different categories, such as most innovative approach, most unique approach, most elegant approach, most elaborate approach, most overly complex approach, most confusing approach, silliest approach, best overall approach, etc...

That does read as a "throwdown" to me, would be fun, and is also something that is possible to do within 24 hours, but hey that is just me. I'll keep quiet now.

I think you're making this more difficult than it has to be. The key is simplicity, as I said before. It doesn't have to be perfect and have every bell and whistle to be a cool piece of code. For instance, you could crank out a random number lottery generator in about 30 minutes. Then compare those numbers to the lottery numbers that were chosen that week and see if you have any matches (Add a few hours there to scrape a lottery site and glean the info, or better yet, hook into an API if you're feeling ambitious). Then see what else you can add on in the time you have left... maybe it will email you the results along with your winnings and what you could spend at Amazon with the money you've won. Maybe it sends an email to your boss with a pre-written letter of resignation if the winning amount reaches a certain level. There are a lot of fun things you could do if you use your imagination and keep it simple.

You don't need a database, you don't need a framework, you don't need a fancy design. You just need a cool app, or a cool idea for an app if you don't like any of ours. I don't think 24 hours is a bad time frame at all, if you just keep it simple. 🙂

vaaaska

I'm going to make a color generator that produces colors based upon Japanese sensibilties. Ok, I'm not, but after the research I was doing lately I'd love to figure something like this up for the heck of it.

The word 'app' is what throws people. On the site you mention mysql and stuff. Is it an app if mysql is not required? What if the thing has no need for a db?

Depending upon how busy I am at the time...I know exactly what I'm going to do and I bet it only takes me realistically 6 hours (if I'm especially stupid that day). But I could spend the other 18 hours doing something many others can't do...designing the heck out of the interface! 😉

dream_scape

Elizabeth wrote:
it's just meant to be a fun excuse to lock yourself in a room for a while with some Red Bull and see what you can crank out.

That's your idea of fun? No thanks, I am psychotic enough as it is. :evilgrin:

Jason_Batten

dream.scape wrote:
That's your idea of fun? No thanks, I am psychotic enough as it is. :evilgrin:

LMAO 😃, aren't we all :rolleyes:

bubblenut

This sounds like an awesome idea and definitely my idea of fun.

stolzyboy

i dunno if i'd be able to participate... but this sounds like a fun idea... did this fall off the edge of the planet and where is Ebeth?

stolzyboy

dougal85

I'd love to try but knowing me i'd loose a few hours waiting for one of you guys to reply to a question on the forum 😉 hehe.

Cool idea tho. How about a nub catagory? 😃

vaaaska

The site is still incomplete...

dream_scape

I'm sure Elizabeth will update it when she has the time and information.

Elizabeth

Registration is now open for the Throwdown! So get off yer scrawny butts and sign up. 🙂

http://www.phpthrowdown.com

dougal85

Awesome... I think it sounds like a really cool idea... but i doubt i'd be good enough.

Nice site too! 🙂