Katas, Contests and Coding Dojos

Kerry Buckley, 1 October 2010

What is a Kata?

kata |ˈkätə|nouna 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.

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

But what does that have to do with software?

Coding Katas

Kata Styles

‘Prag’ Dave Thomas

• Simple problems

• Many correct solutions

• Different each time

• Learn by experimentation

‘Uncle’ Bob Martin

• Copy a master

• Follow forms precisely

• Learn by repetition

• Aim for perfect performance

Katas can help…

• To ingrain good habits (TDD, refactoring)

• When learning a new language

• Master your editor or IDE

• Stop you forgetting the basics

codekata.pragprog.com

codingkata.org

www.katacasts.com

Coding Dojos

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

Code Retreat

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

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

Contests and Sparring

Demo: Prime Factors