Codetown
Codetown ::: a software developer's community
Wari - Contest #1
Senegal is a land of magic and mystery. People there use their heads for recreation! How? Well, here's an example. The photo you see above is a game called Wari I got in Kaolack, Senegal. I went to Sengal to give the opening presentation for the SeneJUG. The rules are pretty simple. You move the beans around and the winner takes all the opponent's beans. Here are the rules, a little more specifically.
Now, here's the challenge. Write a program, any way you like, and show the Contest Town something that works, and you win! Cambridge Web Design will sponsor this first contest, and the winner will get a check for $50. The deadline for submitting your entry is midnight, tonight - December 27, 2009, Eastern Standard Time USA.
Yep, that's not much time, but you know what to do. CWD will judge the winning entry based on completeness, user interface (if any), and elegance. CWD will be the sole judge, and CWD's decision is final.
Submit your entry to this email address: contest @ codetown dot us. You can send a link to a web app, a binary, anything you think shows a complete solution that we can run here at CWD HQ, in the Swamp.
If you have questions, just ping me at contest @ codetown dot us.
If there are no entries by midnight tonight, stay tuned. We'll extend the deadline and let you know what the new rules are. Good luck!
Views: 696
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Neelands on
-
Extend the deadline a week or two and I might take a shot. Today's schedule revolves around the 'Life on Mars' DVD I got for christmas. Sis says the show is offbeat, weird, and full of strange twists. Kinda like me.
Looking back, I'm not certain that was a compliment! -
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Levin on
-
Well, let's look at this as Contest 1, Phase 1. But, think about it. Wari is a universally well known game, The possibilities are broad. It could be an iPhone program. Let me see...yes just as I thought. No Wari for iPhone. Think of what people are missing out on in the game world. You should have seen me playing with the vender in Kaolack. I learned the rules in just a few minutes, but it was a very challenging game. And, he won. They are selling it in Starbucks these days!
As for "offbeat, weird, and full of strange twists", it beats being boring. -
-
Permalink Reply by Karim Diff on
-
I am catching this with only 3 hours to go. Does the program have to be about the Wari game?
-
-
-
Yes, the program has to be about the Wari game. Now, wait until you see the next contest!
-
-
-
OK. Then I won't have time to put something together. I'll wait for the next contest and learn the rules of the game in the meantime.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Eric Lavigne on
-
I wrote a web app in Clojure. You can play the game at http://ericlavigne.net:8054 or see the source code at http://github.com/ericlavigne/island-wari/
-
-
-
We have a winner! Congrats, Eric. I ran the app on my Mac and from your website. Would you like to collect your $50 prize immediately via PayPal or in person at the next GatorJUG meeting? I'd love to devote the meeting in part to describing your Clojure implementation. -
-
-
Thanks, Michael. I prefer to pick it up in person because I don't often use PayPal.
I would be happy to talk about my code, but I don't think it will take a large chunk of the meeting. It is just one file with about 100 lines of code, plus a folder full of images.
I delivered a Clojure presentation earlier this year for GatorJUG. If anyone is interested in hearing about Clojure again, I'll be delivering the same presentation again (with minor updates) tomorrow evening for a Ruby user group.
http://www.meetup.com/gainesville-ruby-users/calendar/12048499/ -
-
-
Perfect. We'll update the meeting announcement with a blurb about your description of the Clojure app you wrote to win the first Contest Town contest. Thanks, Eric. You rock!
-
-
-
The Ruby meeting that I mentioned has been cancelled.
-
-
-
Here's a shot of Eric Lavigne (l) receiving his prize for winning the coding contest from Mike Levin. -
Happy 10th year, JCertif!
Notes
Welcome to Codetown!
Codetown is a social network. It's got blogs, forums, groups, personal pages and more! You might think of Codetown as a funky camper van with lots of compartments for your stuff and a great multimedia system, too! Best of all, Codetown has room for all of your friends.
Created by Michael Levin Dec 18, 2008 at 6:56pm. Last updated by Michael Levin May 4, 2018.
Looking for Jobs or Staff?
Check out the Codetown Jobs group.
InfoQ Reading List
Uber Adopts Amazon OpenSearch for Semantic Search to Better Capture User Intent
To improve search and recommendation user experiences, Uber migrated from Apache Lucene to Amazon OpenSearch to support large-scale vector search and better capture search intent. This transition introduced several infrastructure challenges, which Uber engineers addressed with targeted solutions.
By Sergio De SimoneBenchmarking Beyond the Application Layer: How Uber Evaluates Infrastructure Changes and Cloud Skus
Uber’s Ceilometer framework automates infrastructure performance benchmarking beyond applications. It standardizes testing across servers, workloads, and cloud SKUs, helping teams validate changes, identify regressions, and optimize resources. Future plans include AI integration, anomaly detection, and continuous validation.
By Leela KumiliPresentation: Changing Power Dynamics: What Senior Engineers Can Learn From Junior Engineers
Beth Anderson discusses the "power distance index" and its critical role in communication. Using the Korean Air Flight 801 tragedy as a case study, she explains the dangers of hierarchy-driven silence. She shares actionable frameworks for building the 4 stages of psychological safety, implementing reverse mentoring, and using PRs as tools for knowledge sharing rather than gatekeeping.
By Beth AndersonPodcast: Effective Mentorship and Remote Team Culture with Gilad Shoham
In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Gilad Shoham about building effective mentorship relationships, leading fully distributed teams and the evolving role of developers in an AI-augmented future.
By Gilad ShohamBeyond Win Rates: How Spotify Quantifies Learning in Product Experiments
Spotify has introduced the Experiments with Learning (EwL) metric on top of its Confidence experimentation platform to measure how many tests deliver decision-ready insights, not just how many “win.” EwL captures both the quantity and quality of learning across product teams, helping them make faster, smarter product decisions at scale. The outcome must support one action: ship, abort, or iterate.
By Olimpiu Pop
© 2025 Created by Michael Levin.
Powered by
