100 Days of Algorithms Challenges - training muscle memory with logic chops
A white badge represents the very beginning or the birth of the Hackate process. Like a seed covered by a blanket of snow in the winter, the new Hackate student is ready and waiting to start growing. The brand new student does not yet know how to control their minds or bodies, but their white badge is a symbol of both their clean slate and their willingness to learn.
A yellow badge is awarded when a new student has demonstrated that they are opening their minds to the practice of hackate and to their sensei’s teachings. The yellow color is generally understood to be representative of the sun, which means that the blanket of white snow has melted and the fresh spring ground beneath is now basking in its first transformative rays of sunshine.
As the sun’s rays intensify, they switch from a yellow glow to a bright orange one. Therefore the orange hackate badge represents the student who has further opened their minds to hackate's teachings and is beginning to benefit from that more brilliant light. Orange is awarded to the student who is starting to gain a sound grasp of hackate’s basic and fundamental skills.
Once the orange badge begins to refine the basic skills they’ve learned so far, they can graduate to a green hackate badge. The very basic steps of their journey are complete and they can begin to work toward the intermediate badge. The green color is representative of the seedling itself as it starts to break through the ground and grow.
Just like a plant reaching up toward the sky as it grows stronger, the green badge builds upon the lessons and techniques that they have already been taught and continues to strive for more knowledge, skill, and ability to control their mind and body in the ways of the art. The blue badge represents the growth toward that sky as the student is fed more and more difficult techniques in order to nurture their growth.
As the student reaches the end of their time at the blue badge level, they begin to develop a deeper appreciation of what a black badge means. The graduation to a purple hackate badge represents a moment of dramatic transition for the student as they begin to grow into the more advanced levels of their training, just like the purple color that the sky takes on as it begins to emerge into dawn.
Just like the ripening seed that is ready for harvest, the brown badge is a student who is ready to mature into the higher ranks. Like a plant that will be cultivated for the next step in its life cycle, the brown badge will begin to reap the benefits of all of their hard work from their first steps as a white badge to this current stage in their journey.
The color of a spectacular sunset, a red badge symbolizes a student’s intense dedication as they work toward mastery of their art, as they gain more detailed knowledge and learn increasing control and discipline in their physical skill. As red can also signify danger, a red hackate badge can also be read as an acknowledgement of the fact that a student is becoming more dangerous thanks to their skills (which, of course, must be balanced with their newfound self-control).
In many ways, the black Hackate badge symbolizes the end of light. The darkness that exists after a sun has set and a plant has been harvested. The student who has completed their transformation from unknowing and unskilled white badge into a mature and wise black badge master. As with any journey, though, the end is only the beginning of something new. As many hackatizens will tell you, your hackate evolution truly begins when you earn your black badge. While it does signify your mastery of the fundamentals it also, more importantly, represents that you are ready to share what you’ve learned with others and continue to grow and seek both skill and enlightenment from your training.