Most people associate the term hacking with cybersecurity (or more specifically, exploiting system vulnerabilities for nefarious purposes).
Of course, this is only part of what hacking is. Aside from all the nasty stuff you hear in the news, there's also a beneficial side to the term. Gather 'round, fellow Steemers, and listen to the tale of Samuel Taylor, a student who hacked away stress levels at his university.
The target
A university class registration page.
The problem
Readers that have gone to college/uni know that registering for popular classes can be hard. Once they're full, the only way to get in (aside from harassing your potential professor) is to sit in front of your computer, constantly refreshing the registration page in hopes that a spot opens up. ಠ_ಠ
This sucks. We all know it sucks. But college students have to do a lot of sucky things if they want to graduate on time while avoiding crappy professors.
The solution
Sam relied on his programming knowledge to figure out a workaround to this problem. Utilizing Python, Twilio, Flask, and Cron along with several Python libraries, Sam was able to latch onto his university's registration system to create an SMS notifier that would message students whenever a seat opened in class.
Students using Sam's hack no longer needed to waste their time refreshing webpages in hopes that a new spot had opened in the course - they would get a text as soon as a seat opened.
Sam's hack didn't need to compromise the security of the system; it essentially scraped the registration websites and augmented the rickety system to be a bit more robust.
Sam was nice enough to put up his code and some comments here, in the event that you'd like to try and implement something similar at your institution. Just make sure you aren't breaking any policies by doing so, first.
This is just one example of a good hack: applying programming knowledge to improve a system for those around you.
What do you think? Comment below if you know of any similar hacks!
Oh, and STEEM ON!