Time-lapse code wins Raspberry Pi contest

SmartSim makes it easy to use the Pi to design circuits

Software that turns a Raspberry Pi computer into a time-lapse camera has won a contest for teenage programmers.

PySnap was written by 12-year-old Aaron Hill and took first prize in the 13 and under category of the Raspberry Pi summer coding contest.

The software allows Pi owners to connect a USB camera to the device and fine-tune the interval at which it takes pictures.

For his coding prowess Aaron wins a cash prize of $1,000 (£627).

The Raspberry Pi is about the size of a credit card but is a fully working computer created to help young people get started with programming.

The two-month long competition was run by the foundation behind the Raspberry Pi and intended to find the best young programmers working with the bare-bones computer. Entries were sought in two categories: 13 and under and 14-18.

Writing about the competition entries on the Raspberry Pi blog, community manager Liz Upton said PySnap was "well thought out and designed". Runners up prizes of $200 (£125) went to two other programs; SerPint, by Louis Goessling, aged 11, made it easier to control more devices via the Pi and The Matrix by Conner Foxley, also 12, was a text-based world simulator.

Ashley Newson, 17, took the top prize in the 14-18 category for SmartSim which is a digital circuit and simulation package for the Pi. The four runners up in this category included a game called Neutron Craft by Bradley Pollard, aged 18,, a web server called Pancake by Yussuf Khalil (15), a file synchroniser built by Hannes Westermann, also 17, called BerryBox and a music player called RasPod from 17-year-old Aneesh Dogra.

"We had entries from all over the world which really delighted us," Ms Upton told the BBC.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation plans to run regular competitions to recognise and reward young programmers.