The Coder's Dojo - A different way to teach and learn programming

• Presenters: Christophe Thibaut & Emmanuel Gaillot
• Type: Workshop & interactive presentation
• Duration: 120 minutes
• Audience: This workshop is intended for programmers and developers -- people who value their programming skills and have a strong motivation to improve; programmers at any skill level from novice to master will benefit from attending. Participants should bring their laptop and be prepared to code.

Objective

The Coder's Dojo is a weekly programming class. Programmers of varying skill levels meet as equals. They come together -- in physical, not virtual space -- around an ongoing series of coding challenges, usually small in scope, often patterned after "pragmatic" Dave Thomas's idea of "coding kata." The intent of this special session is to reproduce the mechanics of one Dojo session, such as held in one of the weekly sessions we have in Paris,so that participants may experience the benefits (and possible deficiencies) of this particular form of teaching and learning coding skills.

Abstract

If I want to learn judo, I will enroll at the nearest dojo, and show up for one hour every week for the next two years, at the end of which I may opt for a more assiduous course of study to progress in the art. Years of further training might be rewarded with a black belt, which is merely the sign of ascent to a different stage of learning. No master ever stops learning. If I want to learn object programming... my employer will pack me off to a three-day Java course picked from this year's issue of a big training firm's catalog. Nuts to that -- acquiring coding skills is not an "instant gratification" process. This session proposes to discover a way of teaching and learning programming in a more appropriate manner, respecting the depth and subtlety of the craft.

Benefits of attending

Participants and presenters will

• discover and help refine a specific format for teaching and building coding skills
• contribute to the development of a "curriculum of good programming form"
• have fun

What will the organisers learn

Presenters intend to use participants' feedback to improve the Dojo, and perhaps inspire others to start their own.

Session Outline

Pre-workshop, a small number of "kata" challenges will be made available to participants. Participants are invited to work at their own pace on one of these challenges.

The workshop itself will be organized around a "typical" session at the Coder's Dojo, according to the format and rituals in force at that time. The Dojo is deliberately an evolving format, but in the main the workshop will run as follows.

• t0 ~ t0 + 15: introduction to the Coder's Dojo
• t0 + 15 ~ t0 + 20: setting the agenda
• t0 + 20 ~ t0 + 100: one pair presents a solution. Others discuss the work presented
• t0 + 100 ~ t0 + 120: group discussion - how to improve the Dojo format?

After the workshop, the participants will be invited to post blog entries to the Dojo's communal blog, as honorary members.