Hackathon starter kit

Why IBM Bluemix is ideal for your hackathon apps

Compose and host your web app or mobile backend in the cloud rapidly. IBM Bluemix provides an open standards-based cloud platform and key platform APIs to enable rapid assembly of interactive applications for mobile iOS and Android devices, web, Internet-of-Things, Watson, etc.

Within the Bluemix platform, developers like you will find a range of open source and third-party languages, APIs and services like Node.js, Swift, Java, Python, PHP, GO, and more. You can focus on ideation and move easily to code. With Bluemix’s abstraction of the infrastructure layer, you can use services like Mobile Data, Push, Data Cache, Analytics Warehouse and Cloudant NoSQL Database to rapidly build, deploy, manage and scale new applications. Of course, you can bring your own runtimes and use cf command line interface.

How to get started

Complete these steps to get started building apps with Bluemix.

1. Sign up for IBM Bluemix at ibm.biz/HackBluemix.
2. Watch a short, introductory video (above) and a more indepth getting started with Bluemix video.
3. Pick a learning lab from the table below that uses your favorite language, API, and services.
4. Tweet with your brags, including #bluemix, #WatsonIOT, and/or #IBMWatson.

Learning labs

Select from these labs and other resources to practice creating apps using your favorite language, API, and services.

Lab or resource	Topic	IDEs or kits	Python?	Java?	Swift?	C#?	Javascript?	PHP?	Multiple?
Swift Sandbox without a MAC	Mobile				Y
IOT QuickStart with Simulated Sensor and IoT recipes	IOT								Y
Internet of Things (IoT) Edison Lab	IOT	Intel Edison
Watson Labs	Watson								Y
Watson Tone Analyzer	Watson						Y
Watson Tradeoff Analytics	Watson			Y
Watson Text to Speech	Watson		Y
MobileFirst IBM mobile development and Getting Started	Mobile								Y
AT&T APIs including voice, video, messaging, and sponsored data	Mobile	AT&T APIs
Video of using Node Red to build Amazon Echo app	Node Red
Self-paced cloud development class from Avnet Academy	Class
JAVA self-paced class	Class			Y
Watson Developer Cloud Demo Labs	Watson								Y
Watson Image Analysis	Watson						Y
Watson Personalized Recommendations	Watson						Y
Watson Conversational Insights	Watson						Y
Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions to Explore	IOT								Y
Internet of Things (IoT) Connected Car Lab	IOT, Node Red						Y
IoT Simulated Temperature Sensor Lab	IOT, Node Red						Y
Camera app with Python, Raspberry Pi, Cloudant	Data	Raspberry Pi	Y
Mobile Cloud and Cloudant Hello World	Mobile
Nutrition app with PHP, AngularJS, MySQL and Nutritionix API								Y
Container app with Node.js, Express, Apache CouchDB, Cloudant, Nano, jTable	Container						Y
Data mining app with Weka, an open-source machine learning tool, and Analytics for Warehouse service	Analytics			Y
Building an Android Mobile App Using Mobile Cloud Boilerplate	Mobile	Android					Y
Extending Mobile App with Push Notification	Mobile	Android					Y
Build an iOS app and the MobileFirst Platform with DevOps	Mobile	iOS			Y
Android app using AppScan Mobile Analyzer to scan for and fix security vulnerabilities	Mobile	Android, AppScan
Bluemix Node-Red App for Twitter to show Watson Personality Trait	Node Red, Watson	Twitter
Sortable and searchable list of demos for Bluemix	Demos								Y
Connected home-automation app	IOT, Node Red	Raspberry Pi, MQTT					Y
Connected car and Android app that uses GeoSpatial Analytics	IOT, Node Red	Android, MQTT, DevOps					Y
Build a Fitbit step-contest app that uses MySQL, Twitter, and Twilio services with Fitbit	IOT	Twitter, Twilio						Y

Additional resources

Refer to these additional resources to grow your cloud-development and Bluemix skills.

• Submit your app to the developerWorks App Gallery.
• Purchase developerWorks Premium membership.
• See the press release about partnering with universities to train the next generation of cloud developers.
• Use self-paced courses:
  • Cloud Development from Avnet Services
  • IOT from Avnet Services
  • Java from IBM
• Join the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program.
• Join the BluemixU Ambassador Program.
• Check out local developer events around the world.
• Join virtual hackathons:
  • See the Sparkathon: It’s Raining Data challenge for weather apps using Bluemix and Apache Spark.
  • See results from the Bluemixathon Operational Rescue and Recovery Hackathon.
  • Learn more about the First Responder Needs challenge with Vencore.
  • Learn more about the Master the Mainframe challenge.
• Nominate your Bluemix app for the IBM Students for a Smarter Planet Award.
• Check out this IBM Design case study to get a peek into how Bluemix was designed.
• Explore job opportunities and internships with IBM.