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The Hacker's Guide to Hacking
In a nutshell: a "hack" is a small project that solves one problem, designed and executed as quickly as possible. Examples of hacks include:
- a working demo of a new or modified algorithm (example here)
- an outline of a larger project, with some key features scoped (example here)
- a new visualization of an old dataset (for example here)
- a modified algorithm applied to a new dataset
- a mash-up of two pre-existing pieces of code to perform some new function (example here)
- Note: Hacks need not be code! Hacks could be other things related to code (e.g. documentation, a logo, ...) or something entirely different (a comic, a video, a popular science article, a poem, field notes etc). This is your change to get creative!
and so on. Feel free to add more examples.
Add yours below, please!
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Be selfish: arrive with a goal, and make sure you achieve it
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Hacking is a community activity: find someone you can pair code with
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Do the simplest thing that will work, you can extend it later
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Love your neighbor: you might be the person they need to solve their problem, and vice versa
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When discussing, pitch your explanation at the least experienced hacker in the group, and you'll end up better understanding what you're trying to do
What do I wish I knew?
- Where machine learning/Bayesian inference is used in my field
- What can I do with my data to try out stuff
- What tools are out there and how to use (some of) them
What do I think makes a good hack for Astro Hack Week?
- A clear problem: I have data and I want to do this
- A set of milestones: I might not be able to get everything done but if I can make this step towards the end goal I’ll be happy :)
- How useful is this hack: My hack will let me and others do really cool science really quickly vs my hack helped me make 1 plot for my paper/thesis/blog (both are important but it’s about getting the most out of the week)
- Who can help me: Astrohack week is full of really clever people who are know lots of really cool things. Think about what you can learn from them/what kind of help you’ll need for your hack
What if I don’t have a hack/my hack doesn’t work?
- Even if your hack backfires, there’s plenty of people with great ideas. Ask if other hack teams need your help/mind if you join and learn about what they’re doing and how to do it
Write yours here, hopefully someone else will answer, and/or write a new tip!
- What is not a Hack? Can you give some examples that clarify what might be not so proper for a Hack Week?
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