Code kata is a really misleading name, is part of it. Misleading and... kind of disrespectful? My business partner does martial arts very seriously and she hates the term. She goes into why a bunch here: twitter.com/jtu/status/10402717419...
Most of the things we call code "katas" are exercises that we're supposed to learn something from. Unlike martial arts kata, the expectation is not that we'll keep doing the same thing over and over. The expectation, instead, is that every time we approach the exercise mindfully we should learn something from it.
When we do code exercises, and then re-do them hours, months, or years later, we're coming to the exercises with new context and knowledge. If it's a well-designed, open-ended exercise, that should also mean that we learn something new every time! That's totally different from the value martial artists get from practicing kata. But it's pretty valuable on its own terms.
That's super good to know about it being a disrespectful term. I think it could be a valuable practice, and I want to get into it, but maybe "code mindfulness" or something might be a better term. Thanks for sharing that thread from @jtu!
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Code kata is a really misleading name, is part of it. Misleading and... kind of disrespectful? My business partner does martial arts very seriously and she hates the term. She goes into why a bunch here: twitter.com/jtu/status/10402717419...
Most of the things we call code "katas" are exercises that we're supposed to learn something from. Unlike martial arts kata, the expectation is not that we'll keep doing the same thing over and over. The expectation, instead, is that every time we approach the exercise mindfully we should learn something from it.
When we do code exercises, and then re-do them hours, months, or years later, we're coming to the exercises with new context and knowledge. If it's a well-designed, open-ended exercise, that should also mean that we learn something new every time! That's totally different from the value martial artists get from practicing kata. But it's pretty valuable on its own terms.
That's super good to know about it being a disrespectful term. I think it could be a valuable practice, and I want to get into it, but maybe "code mindfulness" or something might be a better term. Thanks for sharing that thread from @jtu!