Sleepy students line the hallways around campus. Those who are used to pulling all-nighters remain glued to the faded light of their computer screens, stocked with energy drinks in an effort to fight the urge to sleep. Some find comfort in the space they’ve claimed on the floor – a makeshift workstation created with nothing more than a backpack as a “chair” to lean against. This scene depicts what some students refer to as the “coolest thing they’ve done in their entire university career.” Hack U is coming to select campuses this fall and next spring to teach students about Web programming languages and inspire innovation through coding mixed with imagination. During the course of the year, tech gurus (or engineers) from Yahoo fly out to a select number of top universities across the country to teach a series of workshops and classes, and host a 24-hour coding competition with plenty of caffeine, camaraderie, demos, awards, food and music. Hack U is not about perfect code – it’s about fostering community, creativity, a cool idea and a working prototype. Hackers have access to tons of APIs and other open tools in the Yahoo Developer Network – instrumental to Yahoo’s open initiative. As one of the major programs in Yahoo Academic Relations, Hack U originated in 2006 and has unveiled an impressive number of interesting ideas and apps. Last year’s winners created a hack called DialPrice that helps consumers determine if they’re paying the best price for any given product. When shopping in a store, consumers can send a product’s UPC code to DialPrice, which will then tell them the average price for that item. Today, DialPrice is one of the most popular widgets on Yahoo’s mobile platform. These hacks are the type of Web applications that, in today’s entrepreneurial world, are snapping up spots on Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites” list. “Hack U is providing a different forum for students to take the concepts they learn in classes, combine that with some real-world input from our engineers, and with some audacity and inspiration, set out to build the next big app on the Internet,” says Ken Schmidt, Head of Yahoo Academic Relations. “We love the interaction and fun that Hack U provides as they see their ideas come to life.” Aside from the potential of real-world launch and recognition, Hack U offers curriculum support through deep-dive talks that guide students on the best hacking methods and focus on Web programming languages and basics not commonly taught in school. On the first night, topics typically covered include the basics of Web programming-CSS, AJAX, PHP, parsing XML, and others. Participants then jump into various categories such as the semantic Web, Hadoop, Open APIs, YUI Library, YQL, mobile apps, BOSS and others throughout the remainder of the week. “In a way, this was almost like a mini-course for the students,” says Catherine Copetas of Carnegie Mellon University. “The number of students showing up (and staying) evidenced how much they valued the opportunity to learn something outside of the classroom.” While universities benefit greatly from curriculum support, students appreciate the opportunity to see their ideas evolve and be part of an open community. “Hack U gives us a chance to meet up with students, help with the hacking, and see how the next generation of developers responds to the stuff we're building at Yahoo,” says Havi Hoffman of the Yahoo Developer Network. “It also gives us a chance to invite folks from the local developer community to learn about Yahoo's developer tools.” "I love having an open environment that stimulates and supports innovation and creativity,” says one hacker from last year. “Participating in Hack was my opportunity to once again put myself in a time crunch of producing something fun, interesting, and clever, but have a short period of time to do it.” Hackers get 24 hours to come up with their creations at their campuses. The winners from each school face off at the National University Hackdown – held in New York this year. They also earn a shot at a summer internship at Yahoo, and the chance to collaborate with some of the very best developers in the business. Since its debut in 2006, Hack U has seen an increase in the number of participants. “This year’s Hack U is shaping up to be more popular than ever,” says Jamie Lockwood, Program Manager, Yahoo Academic Relations. “Interest is growing by leaps and bounds – students are itching to get their hands on the kinds of problems and challenges currently facing the Internet industry, and many are eager to vie for a chance at creating the next hot thing on the Web.”

More information at:

http://developer.yahoo.com/hacku/