Are two heads really better than one? N-BRAIN, Inc. intends to definitively answer this question by sponsoring the Hydra Versus Dragon Coding Competition, a Reality TV-style battle between the world's finest software developers.
BOULDER, Colo. (Business Wire EON) May 8, 2008 --
Are two heads really better than one? N-BRAIN, Inc. intends to
definitively answer this question by sponsoring the Hydra Versus Dragon
Coding Competition, a Reality TV-style battle between the world's finest
software developers.
The contest begins June 23 and offers Java software developers a chance
to win more than $7,000 in prizes. Prizes include a fully loaded Mac
Book Pro from Apple Computer, UNA
licenses and hosting from N-BRAIN
and Virtacore, Subversion
hosting from CVSDude, and agile
training from Industrial Logic.
The largest spectator event in the history of software development
competitions, the contest is designed to draw tens of thousands of
viewers from the global software development community. Viewers can
track the progress of their favorite teams in online episodes delivered
daily over the span of two weeks. The episodes will feature highlights
from actual coding sessions, as developers race against the clock trying
to solve fiendishly difficult problems. The episodes will be narrated by
industry veterans, who will analyze and comment on the approaches taken
by the different teams. Viewers of the episodes will be able to rate
teams, which helps to determine the winner of the competition.
Qualifying contestants compete in teams of two. All teams compete in the
Dragon style for one problem, and the Hydra style for a different
problem. In the Dragon style, each team works to solve the problem using
a single-user edition of UNA, communicating through e-mail, and using a
shared version control repository. In the Hydra style, each team works
to solve a different problem using the real-time collaborative edition
of UNA, communicating using UNA itself.
The Dragon style mimics how software has been developed for the past few
decades, while the Hydra style represents N-BRAIN's approach to software
development, which emphasizes working together in real-time as a way to
increase quality and lower costs.
"Software developers have been working alone for 40 years," says John A.
De Goes, president of N-BRAIN. "Now for the first time in history, it's
possible for engineers to develop software together, in real-time, using
UNA. We hope this competition will showcase the inspiring power of
real-time collaboration, and also bring software developers together to
participate in a thrilling new form of entertainment —
Reality TV for geeks."
Team submissions are passed through an automated test suite, then
assigned a score based on the number of passing tests, the time taken
from contest start until program submission, and the rating given to the
team by viewers of the competition. Each member of the winning team
receives the full suite of prizes, while all participants receive a free
license to UNA Personal Edition (a value of $100).
For more information, or to apply for the competition, visit http://www.n-brain.net.
About N-BRAIN, Inc.
N-BRAIN, Inc. is a privately held software development company
headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded on the belief that
collaboration is the greatest asset in the promotion of efficiency and
the elimination of waste. The company creates tools that empower
developers to collaborate in ways never before realized. For more
information, visit http://www.n-brain.net
or call 877-376-2724 ext. 101.
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