Austin Style Code Dojo

Here in Austin, Texas, we’ve just started weekly dojos. Our dojo style is similar to Randoori, but without pairing (instead of pairs, we’re all one set).  In Randoori terms, we use something similar to Ping Pong.

The flow goes like this: One of the coders writes a failing test.  Lately we’ve discussed the proper API in detail during this step.  I think we’re trying to learn the wisdom of proper test structure.

Once the test fails, that person sits down, and someone else goes to the keyboard.  That person solves the test, does any refactoring, and writes a failing test.  Then they pass the keyboard.

It continues like that, with each person doing “Fix it.  Refactor. Break it.  Pass Keyboard”.

We’ve been working in very small groups of about 3-5.  In that size, everyone sees what’s going on and gets a chance to drive.  We don’t have a projector, which isn’t too bad since the groups are small. (But if someone wants to lend us one, it could be useful.)

We allow discussions and suggestions and comments at any time (not just on a green bar), but the rule is “the person at the keyboard is supreme dictator”.  They can choose to ignore everyone else, or go with whatever suggestion they choose.

We’re still working out the bumps, but we seem to have a good system going.  If you’re in Austin and have a Monday evening free, come join us at Genuine Joe’s Coffeehouse from 8 – 10 pm.

What comes next after TDD katas?

What comes next after TDD katas?  UI Testing?  Mocks?  Design Patterns?

I’ve been doing TDD katas and dojos for a while now, and I think I’ve learned the first lesson.  I know the cadence of “break it, fix it, refactor”.  I understand Baby Steps and The Simplest Thing That Could Possible Work.  I get the importance of test choice in guiding the evolution of design.

So what’s my next lesson?  What’s the next thing the katas and dojos can teach me?  Maybe I need to figure out how to test UIs, and how to make testable UIs. The Humble Dialog Box may provide insight and direction there.  A coworker suggested that I need to learn mocks, maybe JMock or RhinoMocks.  I think there’s a kata in there somewhere.  I’ve tried the Publish/Subscribe example from JMock, but that feels too simple, a Hello World of JMock.  What’s a more complex kata that needs mocks to solve?  Or maybe I need to find a way to incorporate Design Patterns into my solutions.  So far I’ve evolved very simple designs, so they haven’t needed Design Patterns.

So what’s the next lesson to learn from code katas?  I know there’s a lesson in there somewhere, and I feel like I’m on the verge of learning it.  What is that lesson?

What Matters in a Dojo?

We in the Austin Code Dojo have been doing weekly dojos for four weeks now, in Genuine Joe Coffeehouse in North Austin, Texas. We’ve been learning a lot in these sessions.  Here are some of my notes.  These mostly talk about what matters in a dojo.  What are the important things we’re doing and why are we doing things this way?

Quick Code Kata Restrospective

I’ve been doing Coding Katas three to five days a week for the last several weeks. I mentioned this to a friend, and he asked to join me. We did the reversi Kara, and learned some good stuff.  We learned to start with empty test cases and progress slowly from there.  We discovered we had to trust ourselves to pick which test cases to write, rather than doing complete comprehensive tests.  Finally, we wrote down lessons learned, which let us contemplate the process later.

Dojo in a Community Ed Class

I’m interested in having a regular Coding Dojo that I attend, and I think setting up a community ed “class” would be a great way to organize it.

Cyborg Chess Kata

This Kata creates a tool used for Cyborg Chess that displays the number of pieces attacking each square.

Background

Cyborg chess is a special kind of league where each “player” is actually a human-computer team. Gary Kasparov is a proponent of Cyborg chess, saying it will lead to higher quality play and “blunder free” games. Most Cyborg chess today is played by a human sitting in front of a chess engine. The human gets proposals from the engine and types in potential moves to be evaluated. But I think there’s more potential. The computer can present information to the human in interesting ways which help the human better visualize the position of the board.