Intro & hackday survival tips

2. HACKING != CRACKING
(AND EVERYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE A HACKDAY)
Sriram Iyer
Yahoo! Developer Network

3. OBJECTIVES
A brief history of hacking
What is a hack[er] anyway?
15 hackday survival tips
3

4. Origin of term hacker
Excellent book
1960s - MIT computer
enthusiasts
Hacking punch card machines
Ethics of hacking
4

5. Lot of early computer dev due
to Hacking
Internet, email ... unintentional
hacks that turned into
awesome products
Apple - Woz hack turned into
an entire industry by Jobs
5

6. Since 2005
44 internal hack events
16 Open Hack events
This is the 17th, 3rd in TW
2 Agency Hack events
~100 HackU events
6

7. Wrong
Current media obsession
Work of malicious elements
who we call Cracker
7

8. Hacker is a controversial word
Media has misconstrued the word
for decades HACKER != CRACKER
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer
Revolution by Steven Levy
The hacker ethic
Security Cracker vs. Technology
Enthusiast
We’re taking back the term.

9. Hacker is a controversial word
Media has misconstrued the word for decades
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
by Steven Levy
The hacker ethic
Security Cracker vs. Technology Enthusiast
We’re taking back the term.
Hacker title well regarded - get stuff done!

10. Hollywood glorifies hacking
HOLLYWOOD HACKERS
Hero/ine typing furiously,
green text scrolling on black
screen, large sum of money
transferred to bank account,
celebrate :)
Not really accurate

11. Hollywood glorifies hacking
Hero/ine typing furiously,
green text scrolling on black
screen, large sum of money
transferred to bank account,
celebrate :)
Not really accurate

12. Wear the Hacker Badge with Pride!
Hackers are:
People like you and me.
Creative developers and
designers.
Love technology.
Love building things.
Come to events like this.
It’s a term of great respect!
Wear that badge with pride!

13. Wear the Hacker Badge with Pride!
Hackers are:
People like you and me.
Creative developers and
designers.
Love technology.
Love building things.
Come to events like this.
It’s a term of great respect!
Wear that badge with pride!

14. WHAT IS A HACKER?
A hacker is a passionate, skilled and creative technologist
who thrives on building innovative solutions to real world
problems.
14

15. THE HOLLYWOOD DEFINITION
A hacker is a beautiful, passionate, skilled and creative
technologist who thrives on building innovative solutions to
real world problems.
15

16. WHAT IS A HACK?
An innovative solution to a real world problem; a quick and
dirty workaround, yet effective.
16

17. Ingenious life hack
Use clothes iron to heat milk
Nice idea if you are in a hostel
or dorm
17

18. Transport hack
Hard work pedaling your
bicycle, add a motor with a
bottle holding fuel
Not sure if you need a license
for your motorcycle now :)

19. Awesome transport hack
Need to transport long piece
of pipe, put a tractor motor up
front, passenger seats in the
back ... and you get one cool
looking .... motorbike .... pipe
mobile ??

20. Social hack
Keep cool in the middle of a
revolution

21. Hacking is not really new
Folding bridge from 1920s
Netherlands
Fold it up and carry to the next
stream you want to cross

22. YQL; YUI
Visualisations & Mashups
Ergast API
winner open hack brazil 2010
Text
http://f1results.socialminds.com.br/

23. jQuery, Flickr, Facebook
Mashup
winner 2010 open hack india
http://fakemytrip.mygola.com

24. A lot of Yahoo! tech started
as hacks
New ad formats
Enhancements like movie
times

25. Chris Heilmann
Ex-yahoo
Lot of code on Github
good way to learn by looking
at code
http://isithackday.com/hacks

26. ack day
15H
val t i ps
Survi

27. #1 Know what’s happening
• Talks - 9:30 to 12:00 Saturday
• Hacking - 12:00pm Sat to 12:00pm Sun
• Submit your hack - 10am Sunday
• Demos - 1:30pm Sunday
• Winners Announced - 4:30pm Sunday

28. #2 Scratch your own itch!
Eric Raymond’s The Cathedral and the
Bazaar:
• Every good work of software starts by
scratching a developer’s personal itch.
• To solve an interesting problem, start by
finding a problem that is interesting to you.

29. #3 Make your plans
• Try to solve problems you face
• Mobile & multi-device experiences
• Digital media & advertising
• Local
• eCommerce
• Build something awesome

30. #4 Build your team
Teams of 4 or 5
Designer
Front end Dev
Back end Dev
++ photographer, editor, whatever you
need!

31. #5 Choose the right tools
http://developer.yahoo.com/everything.html

32. HackTrackr
http://hacks.developer.yahoo.com

33. #6 Source your data / content
The Web is full of data and content

34. http://www.programmableweb.com/

35. #7 Tackle the hard problems first
Planning is important
Research Timeboxing
tackle the hard problems first
Draw some pictures
what are your milestones
what’s your plan B

36. Know what the judges are
#8 looking for
• Solves a real problem
• Working Prototype
• Displays creative thinking, and pushes the boundaries of
what we’ve seen before
• Has the potential to be a viable commercial business or
enhance an existing business' product.
• Great UX no powerpoints
•
actual working code
Teams of 5 or less regional issues
•
teams of 5 or less
At least one Y! Tech
we will know if you built it in 24hrs or not ... this is a
•
competition and you will be judged based on these
Realistic that it was built in 24 hours criteria ... keep the spirit of the event

37. Powerpoint == Fail!

38. #9 Don’t be afraid to ask for help
ask yahoo devs to stand up
15 volunteers right now

39. #10 Learn something new
YQL, YUI, Mojito, BOSS, CAP, Performance,
ETC..
Might see a new API on Programmable web

40. #11 Expect the unexpected!
open hack london 2011 - sprinklers started
unexpectedly
dont be fazed, have a plan B
work around issues
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristiano_betta/571879057/sizes/l/in/photostream/

41. Be prepared for the worst!
WIFI ISSUES
API ISSUES
Don’t ruin it for everyone by
hammering APIs
we have a wired conn ... wifi is
backup
plan for network outage by
saving data locally
copy code on more than one
computer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/major_clanger/1488173116/sizes/l/in/photostream/

42. #12 Stay up all night!
Hacking Period - 24 Hours
Countdown
Ideation and Team Formation from 1:30pm Sat
Tackle the hard problems first
Fail quickly
Register your hack by 12pm Sunday

43. I am your friend! Coffee & Snacks
Food will be provided

44. I am not your friend

45. #13 Take a Break & have fun
local band from Y! tw office
today at 6.30pm
Y! games area behind speaker

46. #14 Practice is king
120 seconds only - 1 person only to present
State the problem your hack is solving
Describe how you solved it.
What tech did you use?
Demo a working prototype
Rooms to practice their demo in ... talk to a Yahoo! ...
15 mins per group to rehearse
“practice is king” - taiwanese saying

47. #15 Be memorable

48. When it’s all over...
• Keep it live
• Will be available on HackTrackr
• Publish your code on GitHub
• Tell us when you’re hacks progress
further
• Stay in touch with other hackers
• http://developer.yahoo.com/blog

49. Social Media
• Follow @ydn for Twitter updates
• Follow yahoodevelopernetwork on FB
• #openhacktaiwan (twitter)
• #openhacktaiwan2012 (flickr)