The Secret Life of Hackathon Code
Ahmed Imam, Tapajit Dey, Alexander Nolte, Audris Mockus, James D., Herbsleb

TL;DR
This study analyzes the evolution and reuse of code in hackathon projects, revealing that a small but significant portion of code is created during events and a third of it is reused, influenced by project size and technology diversity.
Contribution
It provides the first large-scale empirical analysis of code creation and reuse dynamics specifically in hackathon settings, using data from over 22,000 projects.
Findings
Approximately 9.14% of code blobs are created during hackathons.
About one-third of hackathon-created code blobs are reused in other projects.
Larger projects with more technologies have higher reuse rates.
Abstract
Background: Hackathons have become popular events for teams to collaborate on projects and develop software prototypes. Most existing research focuses on activities during an event with limited attention to the evolution of the code brought to or created during a hackathon. Aim: We aim to understand the evolution of hackathon-related code, specifically, how much hackathon teams rely on pre-existing code or how much new code they develop during a hackathon. Moreover, we aim to understand if and where that code gets reused, and what factors affect reuse. Method: We collected information about 22,183 hackathon projects from DEVPOST -- a hackathon database -- and obtained related code (blobs), authors, and project characteristics from the World of Code. We investigated if code blobs in hackathon projects were created before, during, or after an event by identifying the original blob…
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Taxonomy
TopicsBiomedical and Engineering Education · Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research · E-Learning and Knowledge Management
