SAPO Codebits

SAPO Codebits logo

SAPO Codebits was an annual hackathon held in Portugal, organized and sponsored by SAPO, that ran from 2007 to 2014.

The event lasted three days, ran 24 hours a day and included talks, a programming contest and several satellite activities.^[1] It was free for attendees.

Format

Attendees getting ready to present their projects at SAPO Codebits 2007

The event took place over three whole days.

The afternoon of the first day and the morning of the second were filled with technical presentations, from both invited speakers and attendees who submitted a talk that was accepted.

On the afternoon of the second day a programming contest started. Attendees gathered in groups of at least three people and had 24 hours to code something new. After the 24 hours passed, each group had 90 seconds to present their project.^[2]

Projects were then voted on and 10 teams were declared winners and receive prizes.

Some of the projects received sponsorship from SAPO to help them reach a mature state.

The building where the event takes place was open 24 hours a day and attendees could sleep inside, if they wanted to.

Candidate selection

Those wanting to attend the event had to apply to attend. Applicants who did not work with technology directly, such as those in marketing, were rejected. Attendees included developers, systems administrators, web designers, etc.

Partners

While SAPO organized the whole event by itself, other companies stepped in as partners, either bringing in gadgets, demos, or other things.

Partners included:

• O'Reilly - present from 2007 to 2014, with a book stand offering discounts on their books
• Microsoft - present from 2007 to 2014 with consoles such as Xbox and occasionally with other projects such as the Interactive Canvas
• PT Inovação - present from 2007 to 2014 with Meo^[3] and other telecom related technologies
• Cisco - present from 2007 to 2014, providing the network solution every year and occasionally showcasing projects such as Hologram solutions^[4]

Editions

• 2014 - April 10–12 - MEO Arena, Lisbon - 900 attendees
• 2012 - November 16–18 - Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon - 800 attendees
• 2011 - November 10–12 - Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon - 800 attendees
• 2010 - November 11–13 - Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon - 700 attendees
• 2009 - December 3–5 - Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon - 600 attendees
• 2008 - LX Factory, Lisbon - 500 attendees
• 2007 - Gare Marítima de Alcântara, Lisbon - 400 attendees^[5][6][7]

Keynotes

• Some of 2010's keynotes^[8]
  • Brian Suda - "Collecting and Visualizing Data"
  • Peter Svensson - "The rise of Server-side JavaScript"
  • Bruno Pedro - "Everything OAuth"
  • Tiago Henriques - "Computer Forensics - The Digital CSI - What, Why and How"
  • Jorge Teixeira - "Mining Online News"
• Some of 2009's keynotes^[9]
  • Kai Seidler - "Think before you develop!"
  • Remy Sharp - "HTML5 JavaScript APIs"
  • Robert Nymann - "JavaScript: From Birth to Closure"
  • Brian Suda - "Optional is required"
  • Brian LeRoux - "PhoneGap: Mobile App Developer Zero to Hero"
• Some of 2008's keynotes^[10]
  • Jan Lehnardt - "CouchDB"
  • Andrew "Bunnie" Huang - "Making the Chumby"
  • Jack Moffitt - "Exploring XMPP"
  • Marcus Bauer - "Getting started with mobile devices development - Openmoko Freerunner"
  • Mitch Altman - "Hardware Hacking area: Make Cool Things with Microcontrollers (and learn to solder)"
  • Peter Svensson^[11] - "Practical Thin Server Architecture with Dojo"
• Some of 2007's keynotes^[12]
  • Mike Culver - "Amazon WebServices Architecture" and "Enterprise WebApp development with Tapestry"
  • Mahesh Prakriya - "IronPython and Dynamic Languages on .NET"
  • Jim Purbrick - "Mashing up the Web, Games, Music, Movies, Money and The Laws Of Physics in Second Life"^[13]

Satellite events

Satellite events have included concerts (Wray Gun in 2007, Pornophonique in 2009), a Quiz Show, gaming events and workshops on soldering, lockpicking, 3d printing and other areas.

References

External links

• Official website