Intro

Hi all, initially this was supposed to be my third post but due to my need to put the official submission as the last post, I am writing this post now as second. In this post, I will share my final thoughts on the hackathon and the state of my programming skills after it.

My thoughts about the hackathon

This was my first hackathon and I am highly motivated to attend others in the future. I never imagined how much stuff I am able to learn in the span of two (or so) weeks. My concentration is boosted by a lot and I learned if I am lazy, I should just hop into the code and eventually get dragged deep into it. I also learned that however way a person is stuck, he can always get out of the hole with the proper method. For me personally, this was to take a break, or even sleep it through and continue on the next day. I am also thankful to all the people who post answers on the web and boost the IT industry with their knowledge.

On the technical side, I learned the following:

• How to use array.filter in JS
• How to use array.map in JS
• How to use classes in JS
• How to use constructors in JS
• How to set Socket.IO to not reconnect after some time
• How to make Socket.IO use the socket instead of HTTP polling from the start
• How to use JSON.parse
• A lot of small JS details

There may be more but I cannot currently remember and I am a little exhausted to go through all of my code again.

In general, this was a unique experience that I am highly looking forward to experiencing again.

My takeaways

What I can take away from this hackathon is the following:

• Always google your problem
• Do not give up if you are stuck, just let the moment pass for a bit
• Don't assume something is too hard for you to learn
• Learn with projects
• Don't rush into the 'easy way'
• Whatever you build, it is going in your portfolio, so make use of every opportunity you have.

Thank you section

Once again thank you to the people who post on the web. Your content is highly appreciated. Also, thank you to all the people who keep the community active and make hackathons like this one possible. And one big thank you to all the people who build open-source frameworks and software that make hard tasks easier for us.

Side note

If I remember correctly, I said I will comment on my code and try to explain how some parts of it work. However, I am really exhausted after nearly two weeks of non-stop coding and I want to get some rest. Once I rest, I will comment on all of my code, format it, and make a post about it. If you were looking forward to it and feel betrayed (I doubt it), sorry, and keep an eye out for my post. 👀