DEV Community: Aravind Roy

Robodawn: Smash Robots, Don't Die

Aravind Roy — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 06:20:49 +0000

What I Built

I created Robodawn - a frantic survival game where you punch robots in the face and occasionally throw grenades at them when punching gets boring. Built in just 3 days using Godot because sleep is overrated when robots need smashing.

Demo

Play now at: robodawn.xyz

Alibaba Cloud Services Implementation

Object Storage Service (OSS)

Threw all my game assets into an Alibaba Cloud bucket and hoped for the best. Turns out OSS actually does a fantastic job of storing things! Who knew?

The good stuff:

Never lost a single file (impressive for my chaotic development style)
Cheap enough that I didn't have to sell any organs to fund development
Super reliable, unlike my sleep schedule during this project

The challenges:

Had to learn what CORS was (spoiler: it's annoying but fixable)
Briefly considered a career change when figuring out folder structures

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Connected OSS to Alibaba Cloud's CDN so the game loads faster than my brain can come up with robot puns.

The good stuff:

Game loads so fast players barely have time to reconsider their life choices
Works everywhere - tested by making friends in different countries play it
Saved me from angry player emails about loading times

The challenges:

Cache invalidation is one of the two hard problems in computer science (the other being naming things and off-by-one errors)

Domain Service

Got robodawn.xyz through Alibaba Cloud because .com domains are so 2005.

The good stuff:

Easy setup that even I couldn't mess up
Makes the game seem legit™ despite being made in 72 hours
One-stop shop: domain, hosting, and storage all in the same place

Game Development Highlights

The player's melee attack was originally a gentle pat but playtesters suggested "more violence"
Each grenade explosion is synchronized to the exact moment of maximum robot regret
The health pack system was inspired by that time I drank three energy drinks in a row during development

In conclusion, Robodawn proves that with Alibaba Cloud, some caffeine, and a concerning disregard for sleep, anyone can make a game where the primary goal is to punch robots until they stop moving. Try it now at robodawn.xyz!

What Makes a Great Hacker?

Aravind Roy — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 05:04:32 +0000

What Makes a Great Hacker? Key Traits and Characteristics

In the world of technology, the term "hacker" is often misunderstood. While the media often portrays hackers as nefarious cybercriminals, within the programming community, a hacker is someone with exceptional programming skills and a deep passion for their craft. But what exactly makes a great hacker? What are the key traits and characteristics that set them apart?

Based on insights from Paul Graham's essay "Great Hackers," let's explore some of the defining qualities of top-notch hackers:

1. Genuine Passion for Programming

First and foremost, great hackers possess an innate love for programming. They see coding not just as a means to an end or a job to be done, but as an exciting, enjoyable activity in itself. To them, programming is a source of fun, a way to express their creativity, and an intellectually stimulating pursuit.

Example: Consider Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. His passion for programming led him to devote countless hours of his free time to developing the Linux kernel, driven by the sheer joy of building something amazing.

2. Demand for Excellent Tools and Infrastructure

Top hackers are uncompromising when it comes to their tools and working environment. They have a keen appreciation for high-quality infrastructure and despise being bogged down by inferior tools. They understand that having the right setup empowers them to be at their productive best.

Example: Many great hackers insist on using powerful text editors like Vim or Emacs, which provide extensive customization and efficiency-boosting features. They may also prefer working with open-source technologies and frameworks that give them greater control and flexibility.

3. Thrive on Interesting, Challenging Projects

Great hackers actively seek out projects that push the boundaries of their abilities. They are drawn to complex, intellectually stimulating problems that require creative problem-solving. They have a low tolerance for mundane, repetitive tasks that don't teach them anything new.

Example: The team at Google takes on ambitious projects like developing self-driving cars, quantum computing, and AI systems. These challenges attract some of the best hackers who are excited by the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies.

4. Collaborate and Learn from Fellow Great Hackers

Birds of a feather flock together, and the same is true for exceptional programmers. Great hackers tend to gravitate towards environments where they can work alongside and learn from other highly skilled individuals. They thrive in the company of their peers and value the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Example: The legendary Xerox PARC research center brought together a remarkable group of talented programmers, including Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg, who collaborated on groundbreaking projects like object-oriented programming and graphical user interfaces.

5. Curious and Unafraid to Question Assumptions

Hackers are known for their intense curiosity about how things work under the hood. They have a deep-seated desire to understand the inner workings of systems and are constantly seeking to expand their knowledge. Additionally, they tend to be more politically incorrect, unafraid to question established norms and assumptions.

Example: Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, is known for his uncompromising stance on software freedom and his willingness to challenge the status quo of proprietary software.

The Heart of a Great Hacker

At the core of what makes a great hacker is an unwavering commitment to the craft of programming. It's about preserving the sense of wonder and joy that drew them to coding in the first place. It's about continually striving for excellence, never settling for mediocrity, and always pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

As Paul Graham puts it, "To the extent you can preserve hacking as something you love, you're likely to do it well." Great hackers are not just defined by their technical prowess, but by their unrelenting passion, their insatiable curiosity, and their steadfast dedication to their art. They are the innovators, the problem-solvers, and the creators who shape the technological landscape and propel us into the future.

CodeCatalyst : One place for hackathons.

Aravind Roy — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 06:24:14 +0000

This is a submission for the Wix Studio Challenge: Community Edition.

Code Catalyst

Code Catalyst is a place where developers can participate in hackathons. This is a place where recruiters can see the talent and from where developers can also build relations with other developers.

Demo

Link :

Home Screen : This is the home page.
Hackathons Page : This is the page where developers can find all the hackathons.
Hackathon Page : This is the page where the developer can find all the details regarding a particular hackathon. Here they can register and submit their submission.
User Page : This is the page where they can view their own data. This is public so that they can share it as well. All the projects and their bio will be listed here.
Discuss Page : This is a forum for the developers to discuss stuff.
Spaces Page : This is for the developers to create groups and chat about anything.

Development Journey

Even though I did not have much time for the hackathon , I think I was able to built up a pretty decent website. This was something I was planning to do so in a long time. I am working at a company and there was a plan to hire talented individuals. My suggestion was to start hackathons and hire from the talent list.

Really tough part was the data for the hackathon. This took a lot of time , then finally a miracle from God. I found the api to get the hackathons of devpost. I found it in the inspect .

What I really liked about Wix was it had pretty much everything I needed or which I lacked.
I am not really good at UI design and Figma but Wix helped me design a little bit.
I did not know that Wix allowed us to import npm packages, that was mind blowing. I used jsPdf to generate the pdf resumes for the users. But for some reason it was not printing.

I really loved the Wix Ide. I think it can come up with some significant developments in the future. Some of them being :

Integrating with VS Code and syning directly from it.
The layers tab in the Wix Studio if it comes in the Wix IDE as well, then I wouldn't need to shift between.
More control over the styling of the apps. Like the wix forum is awesome, but it would be more awesome , if the whole for the wix forum was in a folder and the folder can be accessed by the user/developer , so that the developer can make some advanced changes to it.

Velo api's was the one that really caught my attention. I did not know wix has a code editor. I took most of my time to go through the documentation than doing the project. Silly Me.

Much love to WIX team ❤️. Even though I have not finished much of the project , I was able to delve into a version of wix that much people has not got into.

Velo APIs

wix-data -> To play around with the CMS.
wix-location-frontend -> To navigate to pages.
wix-members-frontend -> To get the current login member
wix-window-frontend -> To open up some light boxes.
import {jsPDF} from 'jspdf' (Not really a wix api) But part of npm packages by velo.
wix-dashboard -> showToast Function to show the notification

Wix Apps

Wix Members -> For the members of the website.
Groups -> For the members to create groups and discuss.
Forum -> For the members to post to the general and share and gather info.

Not much but really a good experience. Thanks Jesus❤️.