Hey, I remember this project! I had the chance to give a bit of advice to the creator, Zach Scholl while I was working at Duke's Co-Lab [1]. It was cool then, and looks like it's only improved in robustness since (and it sounds like HN has plenty of ideas for PRs).
Although I no longer work/learn at the Co-Lab I'd love to plug the value of these sorts of programs at schools. They give encouragement with money and publicity, and most importantly, tools (VMs/APIs) and advice ("why won't this compile?"/"where do we start?"). I had a chance to see and help with a lot of projects that wouldn't have otherwise been possible to get built. Hopefully it helped a few people get into hacking that wouldn't have otherwise too!
Although I no longer work/learn at the Co-Lab I'd love to plug the value of these sorts of programs at schools. They give encouragement with money and publicity, and most importantly, tools (VMs/APIs) and advice ("why won't this compile?"/"where do we start?"). I had a chance to see and help with a lot of projects that wouldn't have otherwise been possible to get built. Hopefully it helped a few people get into hacking that wouldn't have otherwise too!
[1]: colab.duke.edu