Summer 2020
CS Scavenger Hunt
What began as a ridiculous idea turned into one of the greatest learning experiences I’ve had so far. At first, all I wanted was to create a fun mystery for my friends to solve: who created this ridiculous Hummus Hackathon website? But once I got to brainstorming, I thought I’d make the mystery harder by adding computer science challenges. The project was created entirely using “Hummus Hacks” accounts without any trace to my personal name. Successful completion of each challenge awards the user one third of a Git hash, which in the end leads to a Git commit by my personal account, and the mystery is solved!
The project consists of four main parts: the Hummus Hacks website, Pathfinder Challenge, Swift Challenge, and Bot Challenge. Each portion of the project consisted of thorough research into available tools, experimentation with new technology, and the creation, testing, and deployment of the final product. I learned a lot about algorithms, containerization in the cloud, machine learning, continuous integration, and web development. I also learned to better estimate time requirements for various tasks. I practiced by outlining a set of tasks I wished to complete in the next two weeks, making time estimates for each task, and evaluating how close my predictions were in the end. This project has made me more confident in every step of the software engineering process, and I am excited to see how the skills I’ve learned carry over to my future work.
While I could walk through some code, I think it’s better to see the challenges in action, so take a look at the video below. You can also see the source code here.
The project consists of four main parts: the Hummus Hacks website, Pathfinder Challenge, Swift Challenge, and Bot Challenge. Each portion of the project consisted of thorough research into available tools, experimentation with new technology, and the creation, testing, and deployment of the final product. I learned a lot about algorithms, containerization in the cloud, machine learning, continuous integration, and web development. I also learned to better estimate time requirements for various tasks. I practiced by outlining a set of tasks I wished to complete in the next two weeks, making time estimates for each task, and evaluating how close my predictions were in the end. This project has made me more confident in every step of the software engineering process, and I am excited to see how the skills I’ve learned carry over to my future work.
While I could walk through some code, I think it’s better to see the challenges in action, so take a look at the video below. You can also see the source code here.
