Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

blog.oscars.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 154 posts

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#61

Post by moffkalast »

zem wrote: post #59

as someone who got into linux and open source in the early 90s I will never stop being sad that "hackathon" morphed into a competitive activity, rather than "let's all get together and build some free software collaboratively". I guess the latter tends to get called a "dev sprint" these days, but it's always the first thing I think of when I hear "hackathon"

Practically all corporate backed or organized ones are more or less lots of job interview tasks running in parallel, so they get lots of work for free on a problem they really should've paid people to solve, and get to pick the result they like most. I've always found the idea too exploitative to ever join.

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#62

Post by adfm »

zem wrote: post #59

as someone who got into linux and open source in the early 90s I will never stop being sad that "hackathon" morphed into a competitive activity, rather than "let's all get together and build some free software collaboratively". I guess the latter tends to get called a "dev sprint" these days, but it's always the first thing I think of when I hear "hackathon"

You are not alone. MBAs found APIs. Eternal September and all that.

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#63

Post by bitwize »

al_borland wrote: post #18
NothingAboutAny wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's an Ice cream shop in my city that has obviously generated all their signage and menus and everything else, even on their website the photos section has AI generated people smiling and happy next to the sign. I get that it's a small business that has probably saved a couple of G's on design/code but it's all so sloppy and obvious.

I find basic sites, that were probably put together by the owner’s nephew, rather charming. Much better than AI.

I find that even looking at a teenager's crappy Sonic the Hedgehog fan artwork is much more pleasant than looking at impeccably machine-drafted AI slop. It sounds like a bit of a handwave to talk about how much "soul" an art piece has or doesn't have, but there's a certain something there that's a product of human experience and (so far) can only come with that, that manifests in every human-created piece. So I'm at the point where the only AI-generated art I can tolerate is fictional: to wit, the little crayon doodles Diana draws for you in Pragmata.

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#66

Post by armchairhacker »

The author notes that vibecoding has entirely replaced coding in hackathons (where speed is essential, bugs are tolerated, and only the demo is judged). I agree.

But then says this means software is “solved” so only hardware hackathons matter. Why?

If anything, I think software hackathons have become more useful, because ideas have become more useful. Even if ideas are cheap, not everyone has 24-72 hours for a prototype, in a creativity-inducing space that may inspire better details.

And software isn’t solved: some ideas still require low-level knowledge and skill to translate into prototypes, especially if the hackathon judges require some functionality.

Whether your purpose of a hackathon is:

- Make a prototype, then if it seems useful afterwards rewrite it into a full product

- Make a prototype that seems useful to attract investors (whether you start a company that may not launch or apply to a company that wants your creativity)

- As an organizer, find ideas related to your company

- Have fun, enjoy free food and good company

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#67

Post by esikich »

jjj123 wrote: post #46
esikich wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah dumb until it wins a competition. If it's so stupid why are you worried about it?

Bizarre comment. OP didn’t say that they were worried or that AI is stupid. Only that it’s boring to hear someone talk about what their AI made.

Well then that person was already making "stupid" things. Boy does it make me mad when someone makes something that is interesting to them and isn't up to my personal standards! Everyone is so dumb but I am so smart, I know better. I'm so cool and talk about the most interesting things :)

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#69

Post by christoph »

moffkalast wrote: post #61
zem wrote: post #59

as someone who got into linux and open source in the early 90s I will never stop being sad that "hackathon" morphed into a competitive activity, rather than "let's all get together and build some free software collaboratively". I guess the latter tends to get called a "dev sprint" these days, but it's always the first thing I think of when I hear "hackathon"

Practically all corporate backed or organized ones are more or less lots of job interview tasks running in parallel, so they get lots of work for free on a problem they really should've paid people to solve, and get to pick the result they like most. I've always found the idea too exploitative to ever join.

I went to a London one once and this was totally my impression of it. The free beer and food was a drop in the bucket for what the massive corporate got out of it at the end.

Re: RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon

#70

Post by dvh »

armchairhacker wrote: post #66

The author notes that vibecoding has entirely replaced coding in hackathons (where speed is essential, bugs are tolerated, and only the demo is judged). I agree. But then says this means software is “solved” so only hardware hackathons matter. Why? If anything, I think software hackathons have become more useful, because ideas have become more useful. Even if ideas are cheap, not everyone has 24-72 hours for a protot…

>But then says this means software is “solved” so only hardware hackathons matter. Why?

Because ai cannot do hardware, it cannot solder wire, it cannot replace red led with blue one and find current limiting resistor for optimal brightness. It cannot see what part of enclosure needs to be cut. It cannot see the startup transient on the ldo.

Post reply on HN