A hackathon is a gathering of programmers to collaboratively code in an extreme manner over a short period of time. Hackathons are usually at least a few days (or over a weekend) and generally are no longer than a week. While programmers are working under a particular project, the idea is for each developer to be able to work on whatever he or she wants.
The roots of hackathons are with open-source projects and especially noted in the context of OpenBSD development. Most recently, many companies have adopted the hackathon concept, which generates some debate. Some view a hackathon as a way to allow development teams work on chosen projects. Non-proponents view it as a bastardization of the concept, given that the company owns the work results. Such critics view hackathons cynically, as merely a way for a company to get free developer work during a weekend or holiday.
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