Sharpening the Tools
Dan North advices programmers on how to advance from beginner to expert: practice the basics, learn from others, understand trends, share knowledge, maintain the toolbox, learn how to learn, and start all over again.
Dan North advices programmers on how to advance from beginner to expert: practice the basics, learn from others, understand trends, share knowledge, maintain the toolbox, learn how to learn, and start all over again.
At QconLondon 2007 Jim Coplien spoke with "Pragmatic" Dave Thomas for InfoQ. This energetic 30-minute interview runs the gamut of Dave's wide-ranging interests: 'agile' publishing; how to turn what you love doing into a book; programming (and methodology) monocultures; staying limber with code "katas"; and advice for academics: help your students live with the passion of a 5-year old!
Thought leaders in the agile community are talking about software katas - where one practices specific exercises until they are memorized. Robert Martin has calls them "performance art". Lately there has been an increase in blog posts and sites devoted to katas. The latest addition: weekly screencasts at katas.softwarecraftsmanship.org.