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Do hackathons promote spaghetti code?
Discuss.
- coralreef 12y agoAnything produced by multiple people in a restrictive time period will be spaghetti code. Hackathon's aren't about producing quality code.
- aligajani 12y agoMy observation is, the younger generation is being treated to believe that spaghetti code is all it takes to make something work, and this means the true art of software development such as design patterns, architecture etc. might be forgotten. A reason I personally don't attend hackathons is because they push me towards 'writing a lot of crap' code. I am wondering if other people have had the same thoughts about hackathons and the hackathon movement in all.
- coralreef 12y agoAgain, I think you miss the point of a hackathon. Hackathons are suppose to be for fun. Rarely do you see anything professionally ship from a hackathon, but occasionally a few good ideas actually get started at hackathons. If you're personally offended by bad code, that's fine, but hackathons are not shops on professional software development practices.
- sarciszewski 12y agoExactly. A hackathon is for prototyping and MAYBE going "hey look, you should hire us if you want our idea so we can do it the right way".
- jtfairbank 12y agoMy peers and I recognize that Hackathon code is poor. If we want to continue working on the project afterwards, we take the time to refactor it. We enjoy meeting other people at Hack-a-thons, to learn from and/or mentor them, and testing out an idea.
- jyu 12y agoHackathon winners are dominated by polished design and clever presentations. Working code is often an afterthought let alone readable, maintainable, scalable code with proper test coverage. I highly doubt you'd find Linus Torvalds, DHH, Guido van Rossum or any other highly productive programmers competing in a hackathon. Maybe they have good reasons. Also this is worth reading: http://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/why-hackathons-suck http://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/why-hackathons-suc...
- aligajani 12y agoA nice read.
- Plough_Jogger 12y agoHACKathon
- MalcolmDiggs 12y agoIf you launch your hackathon project and never touch it again, then maybe... But I think a better way to frame it is that hackathons promote streamlined MVPs which must be iterated-on and refactored at a later date to be sustainable projects. Some would argue that this is a fine business model, inside or outside of a hackathon setting.
- taprun 12y agoHackathons promote the fact that your coding style should change depending upon the constraints of the programmer. Having spent most of my career in R&D, I am constantly amazed by the fact that most folks keep the very same methodology no matter the budget, deadline, risk or importance of a project. Such people are one trick ponies that can only survive in a narrow set of environments. Hackathons promote adaptation of approach. Spaghetti code is simply one possible result.