Good day, Nxters and other readers.
It’s been a long time since my last confession. It feels good to write here again.
The Ardor Hackathon
Mrv777‘s Ardor Community Hackathon has launched, and time is ticking.
If you haven’t seen it yet then check out https://ardor.tools/hackathon.html.
TL;DR:
July 1st-August 15th >
Build on the feature rich Ardor blockchain platform and get paid for it!
Get involved
I reached out to mrv777 to do just that.
I am not very familiar with online hackathons, so why not ask.
What programming skills do you need to participate in the hackathon?
mrV: “Any skills from Javascript to Python to Java to photoshop for a design entry.“
Is it an advantage to know how Bitcoin and blockchain in general work?
mrV: “There is some advantage to knowing how blockchain in general works. Its helpful to know there are passphrases/private keys that always access their specific account. That transactions go into blocks which are then confirmed by the network. Also, its good to know there are fees to be paid for a transaction.“
What if you don’t?
mrV: “If you don’t know about blockchain, you would still be good. There are so many opportunities here. Maybe you don’t care to learn how blockchains work but you know how to build a bot that can query an API, there’s your entry. Or you are good at web design, play with the CSS of the wallet and make your improvements. Don’t know CSS code either? Open up photoshop and take a try at designing some marketing material. So many opportunities for anyone.
If you have never heard of Ardor, I would highly recommend checking it out.
You can start here: https://ardordocs.jelurida.com/Getting_started
Or this video:
https://youtu.be/6Dtn5oLuVTQ“
Why even use a blockchain (as a programmer)? Isn’t it just digital money that you can’t trust will hold its value, used for blackmail by criminal hackers (sorry, couldn’t help it…:))?
mrV: “Blockchain isn’t about that. It’s about a token you can trust, verify, and has transparency. It can’t be taken away or counterfeited and anyone can see every transaction that takes place.“
What makes Ignis and Ardor YOUR preferred blockchain to build on?
mrV: “The built in feature set is amazing! Many features you would have to code in your smart contract on other platforms, is readily available already in the Ardor core. Also, the API endpoints and testing page makes it so easy to learn how to interact with the blockchain and test it out.“
Thanks for you time, mrv777.
I’m not a programmer, unfortunately. I should get that tattooed on my forehead after regretting ever so often, since Nxt launched in 2013, that I stopped coding when c-64 got outdated and girls grabbed my attention instead. But I do know Ardor, in some detail, because I’ve followed it intensely for years, and I know mrV777 is right.
1 and a half month of developing is enough time to come up with something extraordinary, even if you start out from scratch > it’s possible with Ardor’s API, the core’s smart contracts, and you can add your own turing complete stateless Java contracts to the blockchain and run it on your node, for extra functionality.
If you’re absolutely new to this, and you lack ideas, there are some on the hackathon website, and we have plenty of app examples running too, some of which are also listed. A common reaction from developers who have worked with the Ardor platform is, that the time from idea to implementation is so much shorter with Ardor than with any other blockchain. It’s ready, and you don’t have to learn a new language to engage with it. Wanna get involved?
Submission form is here: https://www.hackathon.com/event/ardor-blockchain-hackathon-5efcdd03292282001bcaf3f5
Our community’s participation
Personally, I will take this opportunity to update myself on the most progressive live use cases on the Ardor blockchain platform. So if you lack ideas or just feel like catching up, follow me.
Through the weeks this hackathon is ongoing (and through my holiday vacation with family), I’ll explore apps and use cases that are being built or already done on the Ardor platform. Maybe the hackathon participants are gonna come up with new applications so cool that they can’t be ignored. You can help if you want – extend the series with your own tweets, or update us about your/a project, by making a post here on Nxter.org. Let me know.
The community and ecosystem has been donating tokens to the hackathon prize pool to an estimated value of $16,100 so far. Not bad. Donations are still appreciated for as long as the hackathon is ongoing, so make a move if you want to support the participants and the ecosystem and haven’t already. The fiat value of the prizes updates on the hackathon website automatically.
It’s an opportunity to draw attention to the Ardor platform. It’s a good time to show the world what can be done with Ardor, and it’s a good time for new devs to realize it and start developing with Ardor and win money and get some recognition while doing it.
I hope YOU join the event. Go for the prize. Or donate to the ARDOR-FE5E-9FFG-RY4Y-F8KYK hackathon prize pool. Welcome the new community members in Slack, or spread the word about the event on social media or whatever forums you’re on. Translate this article series. Tell a friend.
We’re not in 2017, with alts going through the roof. And we’re definitely not back in ’13 with whales throwing 1M tokens at good causes, just because they can. This is the summer of 2020, with the corona virus challenging all of us, and we have to show the way forwards again. On main net. Every Nxter knows that Ardor is excellent tech for decentralized solutions, now let’s show the world. Here’s a teaser: Among other things we have an UBI project and token gateway running on the Bitswift child chain, a Telegram explorer/alert system, a SIGBRO digital ID project, a card game and DAO project, where a new smart contract could be a submission, a very promising lifestyle-app that awards people Ardor-powered rewards for walking around or going on a treasure hunts IRL, a property investment child chain, a smart voting project, and much more… There are great stories to tell. And still, these powerful live examples only scratches the surface of what is possible on the Ardor platform.
Nxter.org supports the hackathon because I believe we can all benefit from it, and all means the rest of the world too. To make it the best hackathon possible, we should all help. So please spread the word, help new devs, businesses, media, and the growing crypto community learn what the blockchain makes possible. Stay tuned for more info.
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Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash