Flying has never been a joy of mine, however, we made it here in one piece
so I guess I can’t really complain. I met up with another UCOSPer, purely
by coincedence, on the way down. It turns out we both fit the bill of
“computer science student” in our own imaginations. The weekend was already
shaping up to be an excellent social and academic experience.

Friday was the day of errors. Yet through them we marched, never getting so
stuck as to quit all together and eventually we all came to the same place.
The group was a little discouraged by what they thought were fatal errors,
but in reality they could continue programming with them. In any case, it
was a relief to get on the shuttle and go back to the hotel where we shared
in some alcoholic beverages and had a few laughes.

Saturday on the other hand was the day of progress. Having overcome most of
the hang up’s the group started working on issues in full. I had completed
some patches prior to the code sprint, so I had some experience, and was
delighted to find that my aquired knowledge about the project would now be
useful to the others. There were several commits made, one that broke the
build but it was definitely progress. And in general everyone was in better
spirits. Me and another team member went to the Hobbit which was just as
good the second time as the first.

Overall I think the team has made tremendous strides in terms of being able
to talk to one another when we have problems, as well as becoming more
familiar with the code. Both of these were facilitated quite well by our
mentor who was always very encouraging. We must learn to wade into the
code, before we can swim in it, and we must do this slowly because or else
we will be swept away by the current and be lost. I think we have all
learnt a great deal hear at the hackfest, and I’m sure that we will learn a
great deal more by the end of the semester. In the end I think that joining
this program is going to be one of the best decisions I’ve made for my
life, and it’s fun too.