Programming, Software and Code

Hackathon Schedule

08 Oct 2009
legacy  —  Hackathon  —  Parrot
This week at the #parrotsketch meeting we decided a few things:
  1. We need to keep up momentum on the PCC work. So, we're doing the hackathon thing again this weekend
  2. Hackathons are good things, but they need to be used sparingly.
We can't just hackathon all the time, and the fact that we are trying to do it two weekends in a row is more a testament to the extreme necessity of these refactors. We want it and we're going to make an extended push to get it.

Conversely, if every day is a hackathon, no day is. We need to do it infrequently enough that people don't get used to it and tired of it. However, we need to have them frequently enough that we get good focus on big projects and develop good momentum. After this cycle, we're looking to do about one hackathon per month, depending on need and interest. More need means we do it a little more frequently, less interest means we do it a little less frequently. We've got plans penciled in for the next two months, ideas after that would be welcome.

This is the month of PCC. Next month we're looking at PIRC. It's not a huge necessity for us since IMCC still "just works", but then again there is a painfully small bus number for that system and we would like to get knowledge and interest higher.

The month after that I think it's going to be time for JIT. I don't think I am going to wait for a random hackathon in two months to get started, but hopefully we can lay enough groundwork for other developers to really latch onto and get going. Working in a void is hard, working on a pre-made foundation is much easier.

Besides development hackathons, we're also wanting to do testing/debugging hackathons. In the historical notes I think these used to be called "bug days", and tended to be the Saturday before a release. If we could make that a regular occurance again, it would be a great thing for Parrot. A day when we were dedicated to closing tickets, tracking down bugs, submitting smoke reports, and getting Parrot building and passing tests of various platforms would be a huge benefit. It would also get us into a better habit of keeping things clean and stable before the release, which is something we probably should be better with.

I'm moving to a new apartment this weekend, so likely won't be able to participate in most of the hackathoning. I will check in as often as possible.

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