Presentation from BT DevCon3 event

1. Katas, Contests and
Coding Dojos
Kerry Buckley, 1 October 2010

2. What is a Kata?

3. kata
noun
a system of individual training exercises for
practitioners of karate and other martial arts.
• ( pl. same or katas) an individual exercise of
this kind.
ORIGIN Japanese.

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/genista/310475897

5. But what does that have
to do with software?

6. Coding Katas

7. Kata Styles

8. ‘Prag’ Dave Thomas
• Simple problems
• Many correct solutions
• Different each time
• Learn by experimentation

9. ‘Uncle’ Bob Martin
• Copy a master
• Follow forms precisely
• Learn by repetition
• Aim for perfect performance

10. Katas can help…
• To ingrain good habits (TDD, refactoring)
• When learning a new language
• Master your editor or IDE
• Stop you forgetting the basics

11. codekata.pragprog.com

12. codingkata.org

13. www.katacasts.com

15. Coding Dojos

16. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedromenezes/4146050594

17. Code Retreat

18. http://picasaweb.google.com/coreyhaines/CodeRetreatChicago#5383234997317010050

19. And if I catch you writing the code
before the test again, I’ll give you a
chinese burn on the other arm too.
http://picasaweb.google.com/coreyhaines/CodeRetreatChicago#5383234997317010050

20. Contests and Sparring

25. Demo: Prime Factors