{"slug":"basic-web","name":"BASIC Web","hackathon":"uofthacks-11","tagline":"A from-scratch BASIC compiler and runtime for building interactive web pages.","placement":{"status":"podium","rank":2,"awards":["Overall UofTHacks Second Place Winner","CSE"],"track":null},"team":{"size":4,"members":["Yiu Him Chung","Patrick He","Akshar Barot","Patrick Gu"]},"problem":"Nostalgia theme: modern web development is buried under frameworks; what if you could build for the web with 1960s-simple imperative code?","solution":"A TypeScript parser, compiler and runtime that turns BASIC programs into HTML, with the project's own website written in BASIC and shipped via CI to GitHub Pages as a single bundled file.","demo_moment":"Open a to-do app and reveal it was written entirely in BASIC.","build_style":"software-only","tech":{"stack":["typescript","node.js","webpack","github-actions","github-pages","recursive-descent-parser"],"ai_patterns":["none"]},"domains":["dev-tools"],"analysis":{"why_it_stood_out":[{"claim":"Most of the team had no compiler experience and built parser, IR and runtime in 36 hours — visible, verifiable depth.","basis":"team-stated","source":0},{"claim":"Theme answered through a programming language rather than a retro UI skin.","basis":"curator-inference"},{"claim":"Shipped, not mocked: deployed site, CI/CD and dependency scanning.","basis":"team-stated","source":0},{"claim":"Won two prizes (overall 2nd and a sponsor prize), showing one project can stack a main-rubric win with a sponsor lane.","basis":"organizer-stated","source":0}],"mechanisms":["theme-native-twist","visible-engineering-depth","familiar-thing-new-job","tight-scope-finished"],"judging_lens":["technical-depth","originality"],"lessons":["A no-AI project with genuine depth can out-place AI wrappers; depth is most persuasive when the demo proves it (the site itself is BASIC)."],"confidence":"medium"},"links":{"devpost":"https://devpost.com/software/basic-web","repo":null,"demo":null,"video":null},"sources":[{"url":"https://devpost.com/software/basic-web","kind":"devpost-project","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14","note":"Story, stack and prize list."},{"url":"https://uofthacks-11.devpost.com/project-gallery","kind":"devpost-gallery","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14"}]}