<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 7 February 2012 13:41, Nicholas H.Tollervey <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ntoll@ntoll.org">ntoll@ntoll.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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Hey David,<br>
<div class="im"><br>
On 07/02/12 11:36, David Read wrote:<br>
> Those of us at last week's London Python Dojo had fun hacking<br>
> together<br>
<br>
</div>A shame I missed it :-(<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> little animated Game of Life simulators. My team's data model was<br>
> based on a set of the alive cells, rather than the world as an<br>
> array / list of lists, and its a choice I pushed for having<br>
> recently read an extremely relevant blog post:<br>
> <a href="http://emilybache.blogspot.com/2011/12/global-day-of-code-retreat.html" target="_blank">http://emilybache.blogspot.com/2011/12/global-day-of-code-retreat.html</a><br>
> I mentioned it to some of the people in the pub afterwards and<br>
> wondered if the rest of you would be interested.<br>
><br>
> Emily r<br>
</div>> <<a href="http://emilybache.blogspot.com/2011/12/global-day-of-code-retreat.html" target="_blank">http://emilybache.blogspot.com/2011/12/global-day-of-code-retreat.html</a>>uns<br>
<div class="im">><br>
><br>
Python Dojos in Gothenburg and provides "clean code" training for<br>
> companies, so practises doing problems like Game of Life time<br>
> after time. She aims for clarity / pythonic-ness and practising<br>
> different coding methods to get high quality.<br>
><br>
> I was particularly interested to watch her screen cast<br>
> <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ryanbigg_screencasts/Game+of+Life+-+Full.mov" target="_blank">https://s3.amazonaws.com/ryanbigg_screencasts/Game+of+Life+-+Full.mov</a><br>
> where she goes through her practised version of Game of Life<br>
> whilst demonstrating several of the latest ideas in the TDD world.<br>
> It's quite different to most people's ways of thinking / coding,<br>
> and perhaps won't be to everyone's tastes, but it's definitely food<br>
> for thought!<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>It's definitely an interesting read. I especially liked the Norvig quote:<br>
<br>
"you can test all you want and if you don’t know how to approach the<br>
problem, you’re not going to get a solution"<br>
<br>
Which chimes with Rich Hickey's (creator of Clojure) "Hammock Driven<br>
Development" (see:<br>
<a href="http://blip.tv/clojure/hammock-driven-development-4475586" target="_blank">http://blip.tv/clojure/hammock-driven-development-4475586</a> - definitely<br>
worth a watch all the way through). I.e without thought, wisdom,<br>
exploration or time to reflect on a problem it doesn't matter what *DD<br>
you're practising you're not going to get good results. He also warns<br>
against what he terms "guard-rail" development in<br>
<a href="http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy" target="_blank">http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy</a> (around the<br>
14-18min mark) and again emphasises simplicity and understanding<br>
trumps methodology.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Cheers for the links - he is great fun! That analogy about "guard-rail programming" though, it's the old joke about how you'd never buy a car that crashed as often as Windows does! I think I'd liken TDD to concepts such as "cross-referencing", "feeling your way" or a "tight feedback loop". Not that I'm claiming to be an expert or anything. But anyway, vive la difference!</div>
<div><br></div><div>I like your idea of 15 minutes planning. I wonder though if presenting them all may have the reverse effect and kill off any maverick designs? Definitely worth trying it out though.</div><div><br></div>
<div>Dave</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Given the high-energy coding that happens at the dojo I'm currently<br>
trying to think of a way to preserve the enthusiasm whilst allowing<br>
participants a chance to reflect on the problem without jumping in to<br>
create an unholy mess of spaghetti code. As you may know, I feel very<br>
uncomfortable promoting "one true way" to do development since I think<br>
it's essential that people discover what works best for them after<br>
reflection and exploration of lots of different solutions rather than<br>
forming habits due to a "that's just how it should be done" mentality.<br>
<br>
In any case I was going to suggest a 15minute design-time followed by<br>
a "stand up and explain" session of each group having 1 minute to<br>
explain what they're going to code (erm, sort of lightning-lightning<br>
talks). Of course groups could copy / learn from other's designs.<br>
Let's see what happens next time. :-)<br>
<br>
Thanks Dave for leading me to the blog post. Definitely food for thought!<br>
<br>
N.<br>
<br>
> Dave<br>
><br>
><br>
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