Programming Contest: Win a Motorola Droid and $1k in Cloud Credit | Hacker News Reader

Programming Contest: Win a Motorola Droid and $1k in Cloud Credit

engineyard.com

18 pointswifelette7 comments

Obviously they are admitting this is the "worst app server tech", but seriously, since all of the communications are public and unencrypted, a rogue-agent could torpedo all entries by POSTing corrupt/meaningless data to the "output" endpoints during the calculation processing just by watching for properly formatted WASTE messages. A "correct" entry could then never be found.

Also, it could be the case that no combination of WASTEpoint steps could solve the problem (though they may tailor the calculation problem based on the registered WASTEpoints). I also wonder if some of the accounts may be suspended as spam mid-way through the contest?

This is an interesting idea, but I think the transport mechanism is too open.

Yup. If all the points followed each other and then just DM'd, then it would be one step better.

Hahha WTF? That is a very interesting... and head-scratching contest indeed.

Yeah, why on earth are they interested in this?

"they" as in Engine Yard? Promote Ruby development? Get publicity from #wa-ste if it trends, and get publicity anyways for running such an odd contest?

I think the concept of using Twitter messages to create an app is hilarious and fascinating at the same time. Even if I don't participate, I'd love to see how the contest turns out.

The thing that interests me the most is the 5-limit on WASTEpoint submissions, and the requirement to use at least 10 WASTEpoints from at least 4 different submitters, which will force contestants to rely on other people's submissions and not just their own. I wonder if this will cause potential contestants to delay building their own WASTEpoints, to wait and see what other WASTEpoints are available for use before supplementing with their own in order to complete the contest. -- On second thought, I guess that's why second and third prizes are for the WASTEpoints submissions.

Hmm, now that I think about it, to win first prize, you don't even need to code anything; just create a program listing of WASTEpoints that other people build.

> now that I think about it, to win first prize, you don't even need to code anything

True, but you also need to be the first to figure out the combination of pre-existing WASTEpoints. A 'funny' progression:

1. Contestant #1 figures out how to do the computation using 9 existing WASTEpoints and one personally created one.

2. Contestant #1 registers said WASTEpoint to use it to submit their program listing.

3. Contestant #2 figures out how to use Contestant #1's WASTEpoint + the 9 others, and submits the winning program listing before Contestant #1 does. Thereby winning the contest on the back of someone else that had already figured out how to win the contest.

My guess would be the that actual computation problem will be something suited to distributed computation as they tried (and failed) to do with their first contest.

The twitter part is obviously for visibility.

edit: sorry that sounded really cynical, it's obviously a fun project and miles ahead of most other forms of marketing.

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