Code Retreat Aberdeen
Saturday saw the first Code Retreat to take place in Aberdeen. A Code Retreat is a day-long, intensive practice event for programmers, focusing on the fundamentals of software development and design.
I was delighted when Fifth Ring became one of the lead sponsors of the event. Since deciding to organise it back in January, I'd been keen to run a high quality, free to attend event which is only possible with the support of local businesses who care about code.
Code is at the heart of much of the work we do at Fifth Ring. As attention increasingly moves to screens, so the messages we drive for our clients must be delivered digitally. While modern drag and drop style tools can allow the underlying code to be largely ignored, at Fifth Ring we believe a deeper understanding of code is critical.
The attraction of Code Retreat to those with a passion for code is that it gives a framework to focus on technique rather than delivering results. It is similar to practicing an instrument. As a musician you spend most of your time practicing, and 5-10% (likely less) performing. As a coder these numbers are reversed, and the focus is often on delivering working code quickly rather than improving your own technique.
An interesting technique used during code retreat is pair programming. Using this technique two people work around a single keyboard - one driving, one observing. The observer analyses and questions every line of code as it is typed. For many attendees this was disorienting, as they saw coding as a solitary activity. The communication approaches within pairs were fascinating to observe.
It was an intense day, and everyone left on Saturday enthusing about new techniques or approaches that had been unveiled by the process.
You can find out more about code retreat at http://coderetreat.org and about Code Retreat Aberdeen at http://refreshaberdeen.com/coderetreat.
