How are hackathons going?

Question

Facebook

I have never participated in “hackathons” before, but here I managed to register for Facebook Developers World Hack Day Moscow , which will be in two days (I registered a long time ago and confirmation that I managed to get into the list of participants has arrived). Since I have never participated in such events before, and Facebook representatives have not answered questions for several days (at least for me), I ask questions to the local community (in the hope that someone has already participated in such events and knows how everything is passes):
- in the process of programming at the event, what do the participants directly program on (do they need to bring a laptop with them or are working computers provided there)?
- since we are talking about programming applications for a social network that require their own hosting, the question follows: do you need to have your own hosting or do they usually provide a platform there?
- are they usually allowed to bring a flash drive with previously developed codes at such events (for example, their own library for working with the social network API, so as not to re-code it during the development of the application)?
Of course, the first question worries me the most.
PS: I suddenly found out that Mark Zuckerberg will arrive in Moscow on the same day , and given that this event is taking place in Moscow for the first time, and that it is the final one of all the participating countries, we can remotely assume Mark's sudden visit to the hackathon, to the moment of summing up.

Answer 1

There is a report from the previous event: indiedevstories.com/2012/09/19/facebook-developers-world-hack-barcelona-my-first-hack/
Judging by the photo, they come with their laptop/iPad/whatever, as it has everything is conveniently configured for you, there is software and what you need.
Internet is usually distributed via Wi-Fi, but a backup source of Internet can give you an advantage in case of problems with Wi-Fi.
As for hosting, it is also worth having your own server, which you can configure as you like and install any extensions and libraries. True, in order to work on your own server, you need the initial skills to administer it, but for a Facebook-level developer, this is definitely not a problem. I would advise you to just take a server somewhere in the cloud for a few days for this business, and put everything you need on it, for example (we will not make ads) in a cloud that has recently lain for a day, it will cost a penny.
In general, it is worth preparing in advance, and not wasting time later on solving these problems. Well, the idea of ​​​​the application, by the way, is also worth thinking ahead of time. It seems like you can not write a new application, but for example, adapt an existing one for Facebook. Also, it would be nice to campaign under any pretext of one of your friends.
ps But you sold the laptop in vain. In my opinion, the ability to move it to any place in the apartment or the world outweighs the gigahertz and gigabytes of memory on the desktop.

Answer 2

I can’t answer your questions, but I sincerely wish you to go around everyone and take the very first place :)
I think if you take a laptop and a USB flash drive with you, it won’t be worse, suddenly, just like they give a workplace, they allow you to use your own, and your own is always better than someone else's.

Answer 3

Post the library online. Even if not publicly. I do not think that they will prohibit the use of the Internet.