An Agile and Software Craftsmanship expert sat down with a DZone MVB to discuss the katas, TDD, pair programming, and his experience in Software Craftsmanship.
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Sometime around 2008, I think.
A community of knowledge and practice applied in the detail to benefit more than oneself.
The substance and focus will remain and evolve, but I suspect that it may find itself going by another name or becoming allied or integrated into other bodies of practice.
That there’s more to katas than just deliberate practice. Katas and small well-framed problems offer an opportunity to experiment, to deepen knowledge, to get creative and think laterally, to find simplicity, elegance and aha! moments in something familiar or seemingly trivial. And fun.
I see them being used as warm-ups, as a social activity, as a way to kick the tires of new tools, languages, and practices. At the most common introductory level, they seem to be, unsurprisingly, about learning TDD and pairing. This remains true at other experience levels, but with other levels, people seem more likely to use katas as vehicles for other ends, such as experimentation.
Yes: immersion, conversation, presentation (giving and receiving) , reading and writing. In other words, the traditional other ways of refining and exploring skills and knowledge.
At some point soon I plan to start collecting contributions for 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know. Like 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know before it, I will be looking for short contributions on anything from the mechanics of the code to the people and practices that surround it.
