Computer Science | News

Students Undertake Marathon Coding Sessions in Four Cities

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/06/13

The nonprofit StudentRND has partnered with the data folks at Splunk to host CodeDay, a full day for 100 students aged 9-22 to learn about coding and experiment with demo-able projects. Unlike other student hackathons or competitions, this one has no prizes; people take part to learn and have fun.

High school and college students from around the country will be gathering in multiple locations on Saturday and Sunday November 9 and 10 to participate in CodeDay, a 24-hour programming marathon that encourages them to "get together, make something cool, and become better programmers." The event is being put on by StudentRND, a non-profit focused on encouraging young people to get into technology. Current locations for the coding event are Chicago, Des Moines, Palo Alto, and Seattle.

Student coders work by themselves or as part of teams to create apps or games using any of several programming languages, including C#, C++, Java, Javascript, and PHP. The event runs from noon to noon, provides meals, and includes special sessions on programming and data use. On Sunday at 10 a.m. participants share their results and a team of judges chooses award winners.

Last year's winners included two games. In Running Blind the player is an explorer "shrouded in darkness who must navigate a labyrinth guided only by sound." In S.S. Halfling the player is a convict escaping from a sinking prison ship that's haunted.

Sponsors for the Silicon Valley event include Splunk, SAP, eBay, Amazon Web Services, Yahoo, and Gracenote. Other locations have other sponsors.