The document outlines 10 fun projects to improve hacking skills, presented at Railswaycon 2010 in Berlin. The projects cover a range of technical skills like NoSQL databases, Twitter API, HTML5 canvas, JavaScript, websockets, sound processing, desktop applications, electronics, and multi-touch interfaces. Completing the projects would result in earning digital badges. More details on the projects and suggested technologies are provided on the speaker's website.

1. ten fun projects to improve
your hacking skills.
railswaycon 2010 berlin.
jan.krutisch@mindmatters.de
http://jan.krutisch.de
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

2. http://www.cashbits.de/
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3. http://
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4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ppdigital/2054989998/
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7. http://
http://http://
http://
http://
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9. Theory:
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10. You need more than one
hammer.
Frank Vincentz
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11. 10 projects.
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12. none done.
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13. (hey, I‘m just a speaker)
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14. okay,
some similarities.
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15. There will be badges.
See http://jan.krutisch.de/en/fun_projects/
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16. Project #1: TworldCup
‣ Quest
‣ Build a web application that shows twitter „matches“
alongside the real WoldCup matches.
‣ Skillset
‣ Alternative Database approaches (NoSQL)
‣ Simple Data mining
‣ Twitter API usage
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=profile&l=vxdigital
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

17. Project #1: TworldCup
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ Ruby, Sinatra, Twitter-Gem, CouchDB.
‣ Achievements
‣ NoSQL-Badge
‣ Twitter-API-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

18. Project #2: Hackday
‣ Quest
‣ Participate in a Hackday, RailsRumble or any other
24-48 hour long coding challenge
‣ Skillset
‣ Planning and execution under extreme time constraints
‣ Knowing your phyiscal boundaries
‣ Less is more
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russss/
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

19. Project #2: Hackday
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ Caffeine, Sleeping Bag, Paper, Rock, Scissors
‣ Achievements
‣ Hackday-Badge
‣ Endurance-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

20. Project #3: RetroJS
‣ Quest
‣ Recreate the first video game you ever played in HTML5
and Javascript.
‣ Skillset
‣ HTML5, Canvas, SVG, Audio element
‣ Advanced Javascript, Javascript libraries
‣ Event driven designs
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

21. Project #3: RetroJS
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ HTML, Javascript, maybe jquery.
‣ Achievements
‣ DHTML-Badge
‣ Javscript-Badge
‣ Event-Driven-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

22. Project #4:
Texas Estimate‘em
‣ Quest
‣ Build an application to remotely play planning poker
using WebSockets
‣ Skillset
‣ HTML5, Javascript
‣ Websockets
‣ Realtime applications
http://www.flickr.com/people/81203773@N00
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

23. Project #4:
Texas Estimate‘em
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ node.js, HTML, Javascript (jquery)
‣ Achievements
‣ Realtime-Badge
‣ Node-Badge
‣ Agile-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

24. Project #5: SoundTest
‣ Quest
‣ Create an Autotest plugin (or a CI-Server plugin) that
sonically signals the quality of your code using PD.
‣ Skillset
‣ Sound processing. OpenSoundControl
‣ Graphical stream programming using PureData
‣ Autotest extensions.
http://www.flickr.com/people/mahalie/
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

25. Project #5: SoundTest
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ Ruby scripts, OSC library, PureData.
‣ Achievements
‣ Graphical-Programming-Badge
‣ Test-Signalling-Badge
‣ Music-Badge
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27. Project #6: Dashboard
‣ Quest
‣ Build a large dashboard displaying important metrics
(Whatever that means to you) using HTML, SVG and
Redis
‣ Skillset
‣ Graphics design
‣ Using a Key value store
‣ Data aquisition and aggregation with Redis
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

28. Project #6: Dashboard
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ Sinatra, Redis, Raphael.js
‣ Achievements
‣ Dashboard-Badge
‣ Design-Badge
‣ DataMunger-Badge
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30. Project #7:
Back to the Desktop
‣ Quest
‣ Build a desktop application that controls an aspect of
one of your rails web applications
‣ Skillset
‣ Desktop UI design
‣ Desktop development
‣ API design
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

31. Project #7:
Back to the Desktop
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ Rails, MacRuby/hotcocoa or QTRuby, RubyFX etc.
‣ Achievements
‣ Desktop-Badge
‣ API-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

32. Project #8:
Rube Tweetberg
‣ Quest
‣ Build a Rube Goldberg machine that starts or that‘s
started by a tweet or other forms of electronic
messaging.
‣ Skillset
‣ Build stuff.
‣ Create physical in/output for computer.
http://picasaweb.google.com/manilikecheese
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

33. Project #8:
Rube Tweetberg
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ threads, duct tape, marbles, inclined planes, USB
devices
‣ Achievements
‣ Handicraft-Badge
‣ Physical-I/O-Badge
‣ Patience-Badge
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36. Project #9: BuildLight
‣ Quest
‣ Build a hardware representation (e.g. stoplight) of your
build status.
‣ Skillset
‣ basic electronics and eventually soldering
‣ Interfacing Hardware
‣ Build/CI server extension
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bidgee
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

37. Project #9: BuildLight
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ #{buildserver}, Arduino, Relais, Stop light, etc.
‣ Achievements
‣ Signalling-Badge
‣ Arduino-Badge
‣ CodeQuality-Badge
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

38. Project #X:
TouchySubject
‣ Quest
‣ Build something with a multitouch/tangible interface
‣ Skillset
‣ New interface paradigms
‣ Multi-User interactivity
http://www.flickr.com/people/aide/
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010

39. Project #X:
TouchySubject
‣ Proposed technology stack
‣ iPad, iPhone, Android, Reactable, whatever
‣ Achievements
‣ Multitouch-Badge
‣ Tangible-UI-Badge
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40. questions? ideas?
See http://jan.krutisch.de/en/fun_projects/
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41. Moi
‣ jan.krutisch@mindmatters.de
‣ http://jan.krutisch.de/
‣ http://github.com/halfbyte/
‣ http://twitter.com/halfbyte
‣ http://www.mindmatters.de/
Donnerstag, 3. Juni 2010