Craftsmanship

In preparation for CAMDUG's first ever Dojo yesterday, I worked through the Leap Year kata, which I had intended to run in the first session, "Introduction to TDD". I ended up swapping it out for the Roman Numerals kata, because I got through two iterations of the exercise in about 20 minutes. However, I thought it would be useful to share the problem and my approaches to it with my readers.

Yesterday, CAMDUG, the Cambridge Developer's Group, ran its first coding dojo generously hosted by my employer Granta Design (we're hiring!). Rooted in the principles of Software Craftsmanship, dojos bring developers together to sharpen their Test-Driven Development and Design (TDD) saws.

At NxtGen's Fest event back at the beginning of July, I bought a copy of Bruce Tate's excellent and highly-regarded book Seven Languages in Seven Weeks. The aim of the book is to teach you seven new languages (in seven weeks!) to change the way you think about your code and the languages you use in your day-to-day job.

At the end of May, I attended the Software Craftsmanship Conference 2011 at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes. As with the 2010 conference held in October this event proved to be well worth attending, although sadly (and counterintuitively) the weather didn't really allow for tours of the Park this time. Thanks to Jason Gorman, the speakers, and the folks at Bletchley Park for organising and contributing to the event, and to the volunteers at Bletchley Park in particular for braving the elements to offer us tours of the historic site.

Read on for a summary of my day...