Test & Code

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70: Learning Software without a CS degree - Dane Hillard Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

Dane and Brian discuss skills needed for people that become software developers from non-traditional paths.

Dane is also writing a book to address many of these skill gaps, Code Like a Pro, that's currently in an early access phase. Use code podtest&code19 to get a discount. And, sign up as a Friend of the Show to enter for a chance to win a free copy of the eBook version.

We also discuss the writing process, testing with a multi-language stack, music, art, photography, and more.

Special Guest: Dane Hillard.

Links:

Dane Hillard
Code Like a Pro — Dane's book
Noisely
Little Leviathan — Dane's music
Dane Hillard Photography — Dane's photography
Nvidia AI turns sketches into photorealistic landscapes in seconds

69: Andy Hunt - The Pragmatic Programmer Mar 21, 2019

Show notes

Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas wrote the seminal software development book, The Pragmatic Programmer. Together they founded The Pragmatic Programmers and are well known as founders of the agile movement and authors of the Agile Manifesto. They founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf publishing business in 2003.

The Pragmatic Bookshelf published it's most important book, in my opinion, in 2017 with the first pytest book available from any publisher.

Topics:

The Pragmatic Programmer, the book
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development
Agile methodologies and lightweight methods
Some issues with "Agile" as it is now.
The GROWS Method
Pragmatic Bookshelf, the publishing company
How Pragmatic Bookshelf is different, and what it's like to be an author with them.
Reading and writing sci-fi novels, including Conglommora, Andy's novels.
Playing music.

Special Guest: Andy Hunt.

68: test && commit || revert (TCR) - Thomas Deniffel Mar 12, 2019

Show notes

With conventional TDD, you write a failing test, get it to pass, then refactor.
Then run the tests again to make sure your refactoring didn't break anything.
But what if it did break something?
Kent Beck has been recommending to commit your code to revision control after every green test run.
Oddmund Strømme suggested a symmetrical idea to go ahead and revert the code when a test fails.
Kent writes that he hated the idea, but had to try it.
Then wrote about it last September.
And now we have TCR, "(test && commit) || revert".

What's it feel like to actually do this?
Well, Thomas Deniffel has been using it since about a month after that article came out.
In this episode, we'll hear from Thomas about his experience with it.

It's a fascinating idea. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Special Guest: Thomas Deniffel.

Links:

test && commit || revert — Kent Beck's original article
TCR: (test && commit || revert). How to use? Alternative to TDD? — Thomas Deniffel's article
TCR Variants (test && commit || revert)
TCR: A pulverizer for coding tasks — Another interesting opinion from someone else trying TCR - Jason Crawford
(test && commit || revert) Questions Answered — Written after this interview.

67: Teaching Python in Middle School Feb 28, 2019

Show notes

In today's episode we talk with Kelly Paredes & Sean Tibor.
They teach Python in a middle school in Florida, and talk about this experience on the podcast "Teaching Python".

I love that they include physical computing right from the start, and everything else they are doing.

It's a fun interview.

Special Guests: Kelly Paredes and Sean Tibor.

Links:

Teaching Python

66: Brian is interviewed by Phil Burgess Feb 26, 2019

Show notes

I was recently interviewed on a podcast called "IT Career Energizer Podcast".
Phil Burgess is the host of the podcast, and it was a lot of fun.

I think it turned out well, and I wanted to share it with you here, with Phil's permission, of course.

Special Guest: Phil Burgess.

Links:

IT Career Energizer Podcast

65: one assert per test Feb 17, 2019

Show notes

Is it ok to have more than one assert statement in a test?
I've seen articles that say no, you should never have more than one assert.
I've also seen some test code made almost unreadable due to trying to avoid more than one assert per test.

Where did this recommendation even come from? What are the reasons?
What are the downsides to both perspectives?

That's what we're going to talk about today.

Links:

Twitter survey about multiple asserts/checks — Are multiple asserts/checks ok in an automated test?
Multiple Asserts Are OK - Bill Wake
pytest-check: A pytest plugin that allows multiple failures per test.

64: Practicing Programming to increase your value Feb 07, 2019

Show notes

I want you to get the most out of being a software developer, or test engineer, or whatever you do that makes this podcast relevant to your life.

By "get the most" I mean:

the most fun
the most value
more career options
probably more responsibility
maybe even more money, that'd be cool

I want you to start (or continue) studying and practicing your skills.

But not just random practice, I've got a strategy to help you focus what to study.

Why am I talking about this now? Here's some background on how I re-learned how to have fun with code refactoring through code challenges.

I'm going to write up the whole list as a blog post, which I'll share first with my Patreon Supporters, second with my email list and slack channel and then as an actual post somewhere.

Links:

practicing-programming - Steve Yegge — essay
The Ultimate Code Kata - Jeff Atwood
Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years - Peter Norvig
PyBites Code Challenges — Hone your Python Skills, in the browser
CheckiO — JavaScript & Python challenges
Exercism — code practice
Codewars — Train with Programming Challenges/Kata
Python Morsels — Challenges emailed to you once a week
subreddit of code challenges

63: Python Corporate Training - Matt Harrison Jan 31, 2019

Show notes

I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
-- Confucius

Matt Harrison is an author and instructor of Python and Data Science. This episode focuses on his training company, MetaSnake, and corporate training.

Matt's written several books on Python, mostly self published. So of course we talk about that.

But the bulk of the conversation is about corporate training, with Brian playing the role of someone considering starting a corporate training role, and asking Matt, an experienced expert in training, how to start and where to go from there.

I think you'll learn a lot from this.

Special Guest: Matt Harrison.

Links:

MetaSnake — Python Consultant and Training
Illustrated Guide to Python 3 — A Complete Walkthrough of Beginning Python with Unique Illustrations Showing how Python Really Works
Learning the Pandas Library — Python Tools for Data Munging, Analysis, and Visualization
Beginning Python Programming — Learn Python in 7 Days

62: Python Training - Reuven Lerner Jan 12, 2019

Show notes

There are a lot of learning styles and a lot of ways to learn Python. If you started Python through a class at work, or through an online course, or maybe an email series, it's possibly you may have learned from Reuven Lerner.

If your first encounter with pytest was reading an article in Linux Journal recently, that would be the writing of Reuven.

Reuven Lerner teaches Python.

This interview definitely falls into the category of talking with interesting people doing interesting things with Python.

We talk about how incorporating testing into teaching can add a level of clarity to the interaction and help people duirng the learning process.

I'm also fascinated by people who teach and train because it's a skill I'm trying to improve.

Special Guest: Reuven Lerner.

Links:

Reuven's site
Reuven's blog
Reuven's online store
Reuven's newsletter
newsletter for trainers
Weekly Python Exercise: Newbie edition — a 10% discount code for Test & Code listeners for the late January cohort.

A retrospective Dec 31, 2018

Show notes

A look back on 3 years of podcasting, and a bit of a look forward to what to expect in 2019.

Top 5 episodes:

Honorable mention: 32: David Hussman - Agile vs Agility, Dude's Law, and more

This episode also went through lots of:

what went well
what was lacking
what's next

Please listen and let me know where I should take this podcast.

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