CodeMash 2016

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CodeMash 2016 - Kalahari Resort, Sandusky, OH

One of the sessions I attended.

About 15 coworkers and I went to Sandusky last week to attend CodeMash, a developer's conference in its 10th year. Several had been there before, but this was my first time. I attended talks about management, "soft" skills (that is, people skills), as well as some in-depth technical talks about web security, software patents, and other topics. I also helped set a (to-be-verified) world record and helped children with disabilities.


The elephant statue and I had a bonding moment. A Kalahari staffer took this picture.

Laser Pong - World Record!
A father/son team in Haslett, MI wrote an interactive Pong game - you remember Pong, right? In the original game, players used a joystick to move a paddle up and down on a screen. In this variation, made to allow for as many players as you can fit in a room, participants use laser pointers to send, well, laser light onto a screen. The program looks at the concentration of red dots and uses an algorithm to determine where the Pong paddle should be on the screen.

CodeMash sponsored a session to see if attendees could set a world record for people playing pong. Check out this link for some background, including the interesting way the current record-holders got their record.

If we wanted the paddle to go up, we'd all move our lasers up, and if we wanted it to stay put, we'd hold steady. Our thumbs got tired after a while, but eventually The Left Side of the Audience (my side) won, 11 - 10 over the sad losers on The Right Side of the Audience.


The Laser Pong game - the red blobs and dots are the laser pointers from the audience members. The area with the most laser dots in it determined where the game paddle traveled.

Independent counters and verifiers took pictures, videos, and careful counts of attendees and participants to submit to the Guiness Book of World Records. I'm proud to say this is the second World Record I've been a part of. Just stick with me and pretty soon you'll end up setting a record for something.


At the end of the laser pong game, my side (the left) had won, 11-10. Not only was I a part of the largest collaborative pong game ever, my team also won, which makes me a special kind of champion.

Katelyn's Krusade
CodeMash likes to give back to the community, and offered the people at Katelyn's Kloset the ability to bring a bunch of electronic toys to CodeMash to be altered. Many toys are difficult for a child with physical disabilities to use, so Katelyn's Krusade alters the toys so they can be more easily used, such as adding large buttons that can be pressed by children whose motor skills may not allow them to press the buttons that originally come with the toy.


This is the train toy I worked on - we did some soldering to attach a wire that extends out the back of the toy.

A fellow CodeMasher, Nuri, and I took apart a toy train, extended its power switch with a wire, and sealed it back up. The wired extension will allow the parents of the child to plug in a button, also with its own cord, and the child can operate the train with the button rather than having to work the tiny switch that is located on the bottom of the train. It was nice to meet and work with Nuri. Maybe we'll work on another project next year.


Fellow conference attendee Nuri and me with a train car, after adding the wire you see Nuri holding. This wire accepts a 1/8 audio jack tethered to a button. When the child presses the button, the train goes forward, backwards, and in circles.

Conference Wrap-Up

K would have driven there just to eat this bacon popcorn.

When I showed K the picture above, we had the following conversation:
K: Where was that?
Me: At the conference I just got home from.
K: And why didn't you take me there?


Coworkers from Thomson Reuters give CodeMash 2016 a unanimous thumbs up.

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