Hackathon Resources
I love programming. We can all identify with the deep, intrinsic sense of satisfaction that we get when we create something awesome. The amplifier to that feeling is when we create something awesome with awesome people. This is why I love hackathons. I am not talking about those cutthroat affairs where a person would punch their mother in the face if she were on the opposing team. I am referring to the events where the community comes together and everyone is there to learn. Everyone is teaching, stretching and learning all at the same time.
I organize an awesome! (totally biased) hackathon every year called HolidayJS and one of the biggest factors to do well in a hackathon is having the right starting point. Here is a collection of great resources and projects to start your next hackathon with maximum velocity.
Angular
This is a great project from AngularClass that I use for all my new Angular 1.x projects.
https://github.com/AngularClass/NG6-starter
Here is another AngularClass gem using Angular 2 and Webpack.
https://github.com/AngularClass/angular2-webpack-starter
And the starter for Angular Material which I love very much.
https://github.com/angular/material-start
Ionic
If you want to go for a real mic drop moment, throwing something on a mobile device really gets the job done. Ionic makes this incredibly easy considering you can get a project on a device in just a few easy terminal commands.
Here are three projects with varying levels of complexity that are guaranteed to impress.
https://github.com/driftyco/ionic-starter-tabs
Google Cardboard! Need I say more?!
https://github.com/driftyco/ionic-starter-cardboard
https://github.com/driftyco/ionic-conference-app
Mobile apps are rad, but what about the backend? There is sweet blog post on the Ionic site about how to get up and running with a fully featured backed using Ionic and Backand.
http://blog.ionic.io/creating-an-ionic-app-with-mysql-and-backand/
Backand
Speaking of backends, I am a huge fan of not having to touch them at all. That is where Backand comes into play in a huge way. Backand is a backend-as-a-service that does a lot of essential heavy lifting for your project. Need a server? Database? REST API? Social login? 3rd party integrations? And done.
Here is a Backand with Ionic starter project.
https://github.com/backand/backand-ionic-starter
A modified version of an Angular application that I created.
https://github.com/backand/simple-noterious-app
A starter project using Angular Kickstart.
https://github.com/backand/angular-kickstart
Here is a collection of codepens for various and interesting things to do in Backand.
http://codepen.io/backand/pens/public/
The getting started guide for mobile.
https://www.backand.com/mobile-getting-started/
The Angular getting started guide.
https://www.backand.com/getting-started/
Firebase
Firebase is one of my all time favorite technologies for building awesome stuff fast. Spinning up real-time applications with Angular is almost effortless using Firebase and AngularFire.
Here is an awesome repository which is actually a collection of Firebase projects that you can run with.
https://github.com/firebase/starter-angular
An AngularFire seed project.
https://github.com/firebase/angularfire-seed
Meteor
Uri Goldstein leveraged the power of Meteor to work with Angular applications by creating the AngularMeteor project.
Here is an awesome application that he created to show AngularMeteor.
https://github.com/Urigo/meteor-angular-socially
And additional Meteor resources.
https://www.meteor.com/tools/resources
BONUS Strongloop
Another technology that I like a lot that isn’t strictly Angular but still great for building awesome stuff fast is Strongloop. This is a great option if you want to roll your own frontend and only need a REST API to handle your persistence layer.
Here is a link to the first part of a series I did on how to create a REST application using Angular and Strongloop.
Build a Simple REST Application with AngularJS Pt 1 Node API with Strongloop
An Ionic with Strongloop starter project.
https://github.com/fitcom/ionic-strongloop-starter
And the getting started repository from Strongloop.
https://github.com/strongloop/loopback-getting-started
Outro
This is by no means an exhaustive set of resources, but a really solid list to get you started on your quest for hackathon awesomeness. Do you know of any great starter repositories that I missed? Share them in the comments below! #highFive
