ICT-portti and University of Turku offer a series of practice-oriented learning events focusing on building mobile applications on the Windows Phone 7.5 platform. The series is implemented in close collaboration with Microsoft Finland Oy, Microsoft Student Tech Club Turku and Turun AMK. Windows Phone 7 is an emerging mobile platform from Microsoft. The platform will be dominant platform in the Nokia smartphones and therefore its importance in Finnish software scene is rising rapidly.

During the events, students are familiarized with the Windows Phone platform development and the most essential development tools. As a result of the event series, students are expected to create a working application which is published in the WP Marketplace. The event series consists of three separate events: 1) Windows Phone Hackathon, 2) Windows Phone Codecamp, and 3) participation to the Microsoft Imagine Cup. The student teams work on a project, which will be submitted to the Imagine Cup, during the Hackathon and the Codecamp events, and between them if necessary.

The Hackathon was be held February 18th – 19th 2012 and the Codecamp will be held March 13th – 19th 2012. The deadline for the Imagine Cup is March 13th 2012. Please see the detailed schedule at the end of the post.

A student can credit the course Special Course in Software Engineering: Mobile Application Development or another corresponding course. The series is open for the students of University of Turku, Åbo Akademi University, and Turun ammattikorkeakoulu. Students, who participated in the previous codecamps (Codecamp: Vaadin & Social Media and Codecamp: ASP.NET MVC & jQuery) can also take part to this Codecamp.The participation of the Hackathon and the Codecamp events, successful completion of the programming project, and submission to the first phase of the Imagine Cup competition is required to complete the course.

“Hackathon is an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming. The spirit of a hackathon is to collaboratively build programs and applications. A hackathon refers not simply to one time hacks, but to a specific time when many people come together to hack on what they want to, how they want to – with little to no restrictions on direction or goal of the programming.“
– The definition of Hackathon @ wikipedia

“Code Camp is learning and hacking experience. The code camp approach can be defined as a collaborative learning setting that aims to promote profession-oriented skills. In code camp, the term ‘camp’ refers to a situation where students assemble and stay a while together. The term ‘code’ refers to coding, i.e. writing computer programs. During a code camp, students write programs together, solve problems related to their work together, eat together and even might relax together in a sauna.“
– The definition of Code Camp @ codecamp.fi

Hackathon is a intensive 24h event where the preliminaries for the Windows Phone platform are learned through tutorial lectures and intensive group work. Codecamp is a one-week intensive course. The first day contains lectures and hands-on tutorials. The next three days contain intensive work as groups implementing the application projects, with the assistance of Windows Phone experts from Microsoft, Avenade and Ecom. The projects are demonstrated and evaluated during the last day of the codecamp. The completed projects are submitted to the Microsoft Imagine Cup by the student groups. Hackathon is suitable for everyone interested in the topic, Codecamp requires preliminary knowledge on programming and software development.

Enroll before the February 13th through the Hackathon homepage (Press “Register” and fill your information. Remember to select that you participate both “Hackathon + Codecamp”.). The number of participants is limited. Enrollment closed.

Preliminary Schedule

Hackathon

See the Hackathon homepage for detailed schedule and more information.

The main organizer of the Hackathon event is  the Microsoft Student Tech Club Turku. The event is open for everyone (i.e. you can attend even if you are not targeting for the credits).

Codecamp

* The computer class is reserved for the whole day, but actual presence is not needed. The classroom door can be opened with UTU student key card. The staff and Windows Phone experts will be available for technical questions and problems during the fixed time at the computer class or via Skype connection.

[This blog post will be updated when new information occur. Please follow frequently. If you have comments or questions contact tuomas.makila@utu.fi.]

EDIT (January 20th): The codecamp was postponed by one week. The original date for the codecamp was March 6th – 12nd 2012.

EDIT (March 7th): Information about Codecamp updated.