Last weekend I gave a talk on Test-Driven Development at the Fall 2009 CMAP Code Camp. Since this was a .NET event (and I'm a Ruby guy), I took a look at some previous talks I had given on the topic to focus on why someone might want to use a Test-Driven approach when developing software. It didn't hurt that there had been a lot of debate recently on the value of both unit testing and a test-first software development approach. The first part of my presentation focused on the benefits:

For the second portion of my talk, I did about 45 minutes of live coding (in Ruby) to demonstrate the process I go through when using tests to drive the code I write. During that time, we built a small working wrapper to the TwitterCounter API from the ground up. There was some good discussion afterwards about removing the remaining duplication and how best to evolve the design to better model the interaction with the API.

It was good to get in front of a different audience to talk about the value of testing as a design tool. Thanks to Chris Steen for the invitation and the rest of the CMAP group for organizing a great conference.

I finally figured out how to use gitjour effectively during "hack night" pairing sessions. The benefit of gitjour over git-daemon is discovery over Bonjour - from there on out, simple git commands are all you need. The secret is a setting in your project's .git/config:

[daemon]
  receivepack = true

The full post is over on the Viget developer blog. Enjoy.

It's been a few weeks since Rob, Nic, Doug, and I competed in this year's RailsRumble - after the dust settled from the 48-hour competition we had created an app (Qflip) that went on to take 2nd place. From what I can remember, it was both fun and stressful - check out the Flickr photos for proof.

Doug shared his take from the event on the Viget Inspire blog and described a technique that I think shows a lot of promise for design and development teams working together:

Do you know what all the pages do? How they're structured, and what they communicate? Great, now build them. Using just markup and some gray backgrounds, you can make a working version of your site in no time flat.

I documented my experience over at Extend and reinforced the importance of "shipping":

...Our codes were far from perfect, but we realized that the real value was in getting a product out there that could be used in the way it was intended by a real audience. As a result we now have real feedback and focused ideas on how to make the application even better.

Since the event, we've increasingly seen continued usage and coverage of the application:

QFlip - Get strangers to influence your Netflix queue. Sounds scary, but you might end up with some interesting picks! Developed by the wonderfully named "Scatapult" team.

— Rails Inside

Qflip is an interesting service that uses Netflix’s open API to help subscribers make movie choices. What I like about this service:

• It’s quick and easy
• It provides value to my Netflix membership
• It’s fun in that it has an element of surprise and randomness
• It’s based on people, not algorithms

— Tom Willerer

If you are a Netflix user with friends' of the same movie-renting persuasion, and you have an evil sense of humor, this is your app.

— NetworkWorld

QFlip is a Netflix hack that enables other people to mess with your queue. I'm not brave enough to try it, but if you do let us know what you think in the comments.

— Hacking Netflix.com

We plan to continue working on the app and reacting to feedback that we get from our users. As part of that work, we will be extracting the Netflix-specific functionality into a publicly-available Gem. Stay tuned.