Code Jam 4: This Apps Hates You

The theme for code jam 4 was creating a GUI application with the theme this app hates you. 19 randomly assembled teams worked on this task for three days from the 22nd of February, 00:00 UTC.

Task Description

The original task description, as found in the repository was as follows:

The theme for this code jam will be This app hates you!. You will be creating an application using a GUI library of your choice in Python. The application must serve a real purpose, but must also fit the theme.

Here are a couple of examples of what we mean by an application that "serves a real purpose but also fits the theme":

  • A calculator app that calculates the right answers, but represents the answer in a way that's completely impractical.

  • An image resizer where you have to specify which part of the image to resize, specify how much force to apply to the resize operation in newtons, and then manually resize the image by turning a crank.

  • An alarm clock app that plays a very loud sound effect every 5 minutes reminding you that your alarm will ring in 6 hours. The closer it gets to the 6 hour mark, the lower the volume of the sound effect. When the time is up, the sound effect is virtually inaudible.

Judging stream

If you want to watch the original code jam judging stream, you can find it on YouTube - all of the submissions are showcased in the stream. The winning project is showcased at around the 40 minute mark.

Results

The winning team for this code jam was the team Cool Crocodiles, consisting of Runew0lf, gl4cial, and syntaxaire. They created a text editor called CrocPad++ featuring an infuriating troubleshooter that would pop up every five or so characters, sound effects when you type, the ability to insert symbols by turning a dial, a theme "for blind users", and many more features.

Runner up 1: Team Enthusiastic Electricians

The first runner up for this code jam was the team Enthusiastic Electricians, who made a paint tool called ArtiQule where the pencil point would break, colors would blend together on your palette, and the paint brush would drip onto the canvas.

Runner up 2: Team Slithering Snacks

The second runner up for this code jam was the team Slithering Snacks. They ade a media player where you had to fill out a CAPTCHA every time you wanted to load a file, register an account, and confirm your password to log in by typing it with all the characters in alphabetic order.

Honorable mentions

While they didn't make it on top of the ladder, the following submissions have stood out exceptionally:

  • Team Blue Buckets won best code quality with their Tinder for Cats.

  • Team Overjoyed Otolaryngologists won best looking UI with their sleek Minesweeper game where you had to press each tile up to 100 times to break it and only got one flag.

  • Team High Houses won best idea with an on-screen keyboard where you only got some of the keys and additional keys had to be unlocked by gaining XP, leveling up, and getting loot boxes.