The search company will hold its first public "Hack Day" event at the end of September, giving developers 24 hours to build innovative applications on Yahoo's various platforms.

Yahoo is holding its first public "Hack Day" at the end of September for developers to spend 24 hours building applications around Yahoo's APIs.

On Sept. 29-30, Yahoo will open up its Sunnyvale, Calif., campus to 500 developers for a free all-day developer workshop, followed by what the company calls a 24-hour "hack-through-the-night" festival that will include an outdoor party.

At the Hack Day event, Yahoo will open its products, platforms and APIs to developers so they can build onto Yahoo user interface libraries, Maps, Search, Local, Flickr, Del.icio.us and other technologies, the company said.

Previously, Yahoo has held internal Hack Days where some of the results of these events wound up in Yahoo products.

However, the first external Hack Day is intended to benefit developers who wish to build on the Yahoo platform by giving them a head start in creating Internet applications that take advantage of Yahoo's infrastructure, the company said.

Click here to read about a resource Yahoo is providing to Python developers.

Yahoo officials said the event is open to all interested developers, although the company asks that developers sign up for the event so Yahoo will know who is coming. Interested developers can get more information and sign in for the Hack Day here.

An FAQ Web page presented by the Yahoo Developer Network said: "In the context of Yahoo Hack Day, a 'hack' is a 24-hour project that demonstrates something cool. … Since this is Yahoo's Hack Day we're asking that you build something on one of Yahoo's platforms or APIs." However, "You can of course also use other platforms and frameworks with our stuff, i.e. a Salesforce.com mashup with Yahoo maps," the FAQ said.

And Yahoo will provide wireless access and power, along with "physical space [in which] to hang out and camp, entertainment, access to restrooms, expertise in the form of Yahoo engineers conspicuously prowling around, etc.," the FAQ said. "We won't be providing hardware..."

Guru Jakob Nielsen offers advice on designing applications for usability. Click here to watch the video.

Yahoo officials said the company will not offer any cash prizes for the most innovative applications, although the company may offer some kind of recognition, possibly in the form of a free subscription to Yahoo Music Unlimited or something similar.

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.

Discuss Yahoo to Hold 'Hack Day' for Developers   >>> Be the FIRST to comment on this article!

>>> More Architecture Articles          >>> More By Darryl K. Taft