Test-first and Test-driven conversation with JB Rainsberger

I had the incredible opportunity to spend a week up on Prince Edward Island with JB and Sarah Rainsberger. They are wonderful hosts, and it was a very welcome break after 2 months of pretty continuous time on the road.

JB has been around the XP community for a very long time, and he is one of the most experienced Test-Driven Development practitioners that I know. He is the author of the 2004 book, JUnit Recipes, which I found to be incredibly useful even while doing C#. He spends the majority of his time now traveling the world and doing agile coaching/training at companies.

JB's thoughts around programming have had a huge influence on me over the years, but the conversations that we've had about life, in general, have changed my thoughts and direction. I remember several times sitting with him and dreaming about traveling around, programming with people in exchange for room and board.

While up on PEI, JB and I had many conversations, and I asked if he'd be interested in recording some of them. One of the first was a conversation we had stimulated by Brian Marick's talk on "Artisinal Retro-Futurism crossed with Team-Scale Anarcho-Syndicalism." We had a conversation about the fact that the 'TDD is about testing vs TDD is about design" debate that keeps popping up, especially now in the Ruby community. As usual, he's a lot more diplomatic than I am; I guess that is what comes from having years more experience coaching than I do. :) Enjoy!

If you'd like to contact J.B., you can through his website.

Part 1

JB Rainsberger - Test-Driven and Test-First Part 1 from Corey Haines on Vimeo.

Part 2

JB Rainsberger - Test-Driven and Test-First Part 2 from Corey Haines on Vimeo.

Meetup in Philadelphia with Jon Kern!

Are you in the philadelphia area on July 31st? Would you like to hang out with me and Jon Kern? Well, here's your chance.

Jon is hosting a party at his place, and it is going to be a blast. We'll be talking Agile, drinking some beer, eating some food and just generally solving all of software development's problems. Come one, come all!

Please RSVP ASAP! jonkern@comcast.net

Conversation with Muness Alrubaie

I stayed with Muness Alrubaie for the 3 days I was at Relevance Software. From the first night we talked, through until the very last morning, I was fascinated by his thoughts on team dynamics, leadership and guidance. I made sure that I scheduled a bit of time to talk with him about his ideas, as I think people could definitely benefit a lot from what he has to say. He has a great amount of respect for Jerry Weinberg, so I'm eager to meet Jerry at BizConf this August.

Enjoy!

Conversation with Muness Alrubaie from Corey Haines on Vimeo.

The Wandering Book

Enrique Comba had a great idea not so long ago of buying a small notebook and sending around to the people interested in the Software Craftsmanship movement, capturing their thoughts at the beginning of the movement. He called it The Wandering Book: Zeitgeist of the Software Craftsmanship movement.

The way it works is that you receive the book in the mail, you fill in a page with your thoughts on software craftsmanship, upload a picture of the page to the website, then you receive the address of the next person in line. Now, just go mail it. I was the first person to receive it, and I've held it for about 3 weeks. Today, though, I finally mailed it off to Jason Gorman.

The uploaded pictures of the filled-in pages can be viewed on the 'view the book' page (mine can be seen there, as well). It is a great idea, and I can't wait to see what other people write.

Updated Calendar and Map

If you are interested in where I've been this trip, where I'm at and where I'm going, you can always track me at my calendar/map page.

Conversation with Stuart Halloway

While in Durham, NC, I had the extreme pleasure to spend 3 days at Relevance Software. I got to pair with some great people, including a day of Clojure coding with Stuart Halloway, author of Programming Clojure and co-owner of Relevance.

We spoke about Relevance's model as a lifestyle company, working with Clojure, and, of course, random other things.

Enjoy!

Part I

Conversation with Stuart Halloway, Part I from Corey Haines on Vimeo.

Part II

Conversation with Stuart Halloway, Part 2 from Corey Haines on Vimeo.