Tests are liberating. Code is like any other form of writing; it may need heavy revision after the first draft. Solid tests makes that revision work easier and more certain, and they allow you to work more quickly. Tests are actually more important, in the long run, than the actual application; as a general rule they far outlast the code that they support.

Wish I could be there with you guys — but on the other hand, I’d probably bore everyone in earshot to tears with talk along these lines … 🙂 Have a good session!

devel.patrickgmj.net/thatcamp/hackingTemplate.html

I’ve moved from “non-coder” to “awkward-coder”. I’m still not ready to call myself a programmer. Whenever I have to go back to code I’ve written to fix/modify it, I feel like I have forgotten everything I knew and have to learn it again. Part of this is because I’m not a full time coder, but another part, I think, is getting the programming precepts to stick in my brain.

If that’s accurate, I’m thinking of maybe a mini-live-hacking session. Would it be useful to put together in the session a wee javascript app that’d take a set of data about people, and turn it into a web page? It’d be a good fire-hose of components of coding and hacking, we could meander in whatever directions interest people as the code comes together, etc. If that sounds happy, I’d think about how to do it so that everyone who wants to could live-hack the app as it is being built.

Is that a direction that’d be interesting/useful?

Absolutely unassailable reasoning on any front!

Interesting points about needing to define what constitutes a piece of info….I think I see what you mean. We can attack that and get a handle on it. Easy!

See, what I’m arguing here is that it’s impossible for human beings to learn to code. Which is unassailable, right?

I would absolutely love this. I’ve wanted to know my way around a script for years now, just never finding the appropriate time to plant the seed. Python, Javascript, and Java have all caught my eye – I am looking forward to this panel!

Ooh! Interesting! But you are good at logic, and abstraction. Ya can’t be a humanist without that. I wonder if it’s just an odd / awkward format or notation? Dunno. I’d love to figure out what that barrier actually is.

Here’s a possibility about variables. Think of them like bookmarks in your browser or delicious. They’re just a piece of info that you know you want to come back to at some point.

The difference is that, unlike bookmarks, you get to name them yourself.

It sounds like there might be interesting interest. And even better, much more for coders to learn about what the obstacles are to getting more hackers in the world.

Yay!

I *want* to be a hacker. Please help me!

Good call–I figured javascript would be a good starting place, especially since all you need is a browser. I also like the idea of ditching what usually the first steps (here’s a loop, here’s a branch), and dive right in to objects. It’s a lot of conceptual leaps, but I often like to push the big conceptual leaps early and often!

Patrick

Love the idea but would be wary if overloading the people at one end of the instruction with the other.

Maybe you could pair a “non-techie” with a techie and have them work together to conceptualize some idea (would need some parameters to keep it simple), like a version of Seven on Seven www.rhizome.org/sevenonseven/

If it were me, I would set it up to use an “accesible” coding platform like JavaScript.

Fun, fun, THAT fun.