Adventures in Testing, Programming, Teaching, Automating and Marketing When you already know how to code, it's easy to forget how hard some of that learning was... until you have to teach people. And if all you've ever built are applications, you don't know really know the nuances of writing code to automate them. And if you've written the code but never had to market the applications then you've not really experienced the full joy of coding. In this presentation Alan will revisit many of his past projects to identify lessons learned. Lessons from: writing commercial and open source tools, multi-user adventure games, REST APIs, test automation, automating applications to make them do things they are not supposed to do, and coding for technical marketing. Some lessons we will learn: * The 'install' is the hardest part * Writing frameworks is too much fun and should be banned * Applications are just "code calling other libraries" * Writing a Text Adventure s the most fun and educational thing you'll ever code * The Dangers of knowing how to code We will also learn the dangers of knowing how to code and discover how our coding skills can give us an edge, in business and online live in general, if we choose to harness our skills to improve our daily experiences.

1. Adventures in Programming, Automating, Teaching
and Marketing
Alan Richardson
— EvilTester.com
— @EvilTester
— compendiumdev.co.uk
— digitalonlinetactics.com
@EvilTester 1

2. You Have Evolved
"I Can Code!"
We have evolved to a point where we can survive in a world of
Software
Note: does not need to be programming - any
software development role has enhanced survival
abilities.
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3. Survive
"We can survive"
— Normal people.
— Non-programmers.
May not be able to survive.
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4. Requisite Variety
Cybernetics:
— "Variety can destroy variety" - Ross Ashby
— "Variety can absorb variety" - Stafford Beer
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5. Thrive
"We don't want to just Survive, we want to Thrive"
if( PROGRAMMER & TESTER &
ARCHITECT & DESIGNER &
AUTOMATOR & MARKETEER &
TEACHER & OPS){
return SOFTWARE_DEVELOPER;
}
— You May Not Want to Admit It
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6. Aspire to be a Software
Developer
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7. Getting started is the
hardest part.
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8. @EvilTester 8

9. Read More code
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10. We used to be exposed to a lot more code
— Mainstream Magazines
— Multiple Languages
— Multiple Platforms
— Aimed at kids
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11. Bug Detection was for Winners
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12. @EvilTester 12

13. Polyglot by Default
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14. @EvilTester 14

15. Osmosis
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16. @EvilTester 16

17. It wasn't all good though
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18. @EvilTester 18

19. Learn from Super Stars
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20. @EvilTester 20

21. Now it is all in our
browser
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22. @EvilTester 22

23. So Much Code Available
— Read Code on Github
— look for codepen (etc.) runnable examples
— YouTube live coding videos
— etc.
People wanted the 'one true book'. Immersion is
what it really took.
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24. Writing frameworks is too
much fun and should be
banned
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25. "Dear Alan,
I have just started learning
Selenium WebDriver and Java and
I am going to write a framework to
make it easy for anyone to use
WebDriver and Java..."
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26. "...where do I start?"
"Thanks,
Someone Who Wants To Save The
World"
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27. There is nothing wrong
with wanting to save the
world
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28. But don't make that the
first thing you try to do
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29. What they meant was
— I'm finding it hard to learn this stuff
— I keep making mistakes
— Automating is hard
— It seems easier to write the support code
— I Want a Job For Life
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30. What they needed
— Create solutions to problems
— Learn and gain experience
— Refactor to generalised abstractions
— Build libraries rather than frameworks
— Refactor back to inline code
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31. Frameworks are
Incredibly hard to build
well and require a lot of
experience
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32. Dangers of knowing how
to code
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33. Every problem looks like a
reason to create a Tech
Startup...
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34. ... or a framework, or a
system, or an application,
or code
Every Problem!
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35. Problems with Twitter
Feed not displayed in time order
Cannot filter tweets - too much
noise
What choice did I have?
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36. ChatterScan
.com
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37. Solved Problem with Tools Known at the time
— I did review other tools - Twitter clients, but...
— I found the easiest reliable Twitter API wrapper I
could find
— I had an MVP working in hours
— I now have a 'thing'
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38. "Normal" might not get as
far as tools.
"Normal" stops at tools.
DANGER - Coder Goes Further
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39. The Ultimate Secrets of Coding (*)...
which I give away while training beginners
— (*) (some of the secrets)
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40. But each secret is a
surface structure
Deeper model comes with
experience
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41. Applications are just
"code calling other
libraries"
The Secret is to find the right
libraries
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42. But the art is in...
— choosing a library for: easy of use? efficiency?
authority?
— abstracting it away or not?
— trusting it, or testing it?
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43. Programmers Don't
Actually Remember
Anything
Google -> StackOverflow
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44. But the Art is in ...
— wrapping the copied code in a test
— refactoring it into our domain
— taking responsibility for it
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45. IDEs write and fix code
Press Alt+Enter repeatedly, don't
remember syntax.
Control+Space and Code
completion, don't try and
remember library functionality.
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46. But the art is in...
— the design, not the syntax
— writing what we want to see
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47. Programmers Don't
Actually Run the App to
see if it works
Unit Tests
Continuous Integration
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48. But the art is in...
— creating a trust building assertion safety net
— creating a robust execution mechanism
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49. Everything you need to
know you can learn from
writing Text Adventures
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50. Coding Them
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51. You Learn
— Parsing, Tokenisation
— Domain Specific Languages
— Writing Interpreters
— Data Generation
— Data Structures
— Data Compression
— Engines
— Incremental releases, System, MVP
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52. No Limit
— Web Apps
— REST API
— Multi-User
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53. Coding Not Always Required
— finished games
— using an engine
— data driven
— learn design
— DSL creation
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54. Playing Them
— Architecture Mapping
— Testing
— Exploring
— Reverse Engineering
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55. Marketing
— Solve Problems
— Solution Development
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56. Solution Development
— Code for individual joy and fun
— Survival not the end goal
— Thrive as a Software Developer
— Build Solutions rather than Software
— Help other people Thrive
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57. Aspire to be a Solution
Developer
@EvilTester 57

58. End
Alan Richardson
EvilTester.com
https://twitter.com/eviltester
@EvilTester 58

59. Games shown
— https://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/games/
buggygames/
— https://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/page/
restmud
@EvilTester 59

60. References
— various screenshots of magazines from
archive.org
— MUD MUD: Messrs Bartle and Trubshaw's
Astonishing Contrivance
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YfX8Z8W9JCE
@EvilTester 60

61. About Alan Richardson
— EvilTester.com
— CompendiumDev.co.uk
— Talotics.com
— @EvilTester
@EvilTester 61