HALIFAX – The next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs could be a high school student in Halifax.
On Friday, the first-ever Saint Mary’s University hack-a-thon kicked off. The event, which is organized by the Department of Math and Computer Science, requires students to solve four computer programming challenges. The challenges include creating a website about movies being shown in Halifax, a website comparing the best cell phone plans in Halifax, an event organizing website as well as a website to track a person’s exercise and diet plans. The solution could be in the form of a cell phone application or web program.
About 50 local students registered in the competition, which runs one week. Professor Sageev Oore, who organized the event, says the term hacking is being used loosely.
“It’s not breaking into systems. It’s not that kind of hacking. They can try to use whatever means they want to put together a really cool solution,” Oore said.
Oore says the event is meant to get students excited about programming.
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“It’s meant to give them the opportunity realize how much fun they might be having,” he said.
Fellow professor and organizer Pawan Lingras says many people think computer science is just sitting in front of a computer but he believes it’s so much more.
“You have to visualize a problem. You have to come up with a solution. You have to send a solution to people who will actually use it.”
“Programming allows you to basically create whatever you want in a way that’s more interactive than anything else you can do in a computer,” said student Liam Coleman-Aulenbach.
“I like how you can make whatever you want just using logic and figuring things out and solving problems,” said student Aisha Gattous.
There was a range of emotions as students started to plan out solutions to the challenges.
“I’m excited to learn all this new code and how to set up websites,” said Devon Slongo, 17.
“I’m a bit nervous and excited,” said Ryan Murphy, 15. “We’re thinking of a few ideas to wow the judges. It’s not really a plan or strategy. We’re just having fun.”
Some students registered in the event to learn more about the field.
“I like how it’s quite logical. I’ve always been interested in technology and using computers,” said Leigh Murphy, 15. “It seemed like a good idea to come out and do some programming and see what the competition is all about.”
“I just wanted to see how computer science is,” said Zeynab Khan. “Just to test it out and see if I like it, if I want to do more in school.”
The students, who are working in teams of two or three, will get the chance to pick the brains of SMU professors as well as industry professionals.
The winners will be judged next Saturday. Prizes include an iPod, scholarship money and internship opportunities.
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