Practicing the art of programming

Dave Thomas the author of "The Pragmattic Programmer" pioneered the concept of coding katas. In his own words:

How do you get to be a great musician? It helps to know the theory, and to understand the mechanics of your instrument. It helps to have talent. But ultimately, greatness comes practicing; applying the theory over and over again, using feedback to get better every time.
How do you get to be an All-Star sports person? Obviously fitness and talent help. But the great athletes spend hours and hours every day, practicing.
But in the software industry we take developers trained in the theory and throw them straight in to the deep-end, working on a project. It’s like taking a group of fit kids and telling them that they have four quarters to beat the Redskins (hey, we manage by objectives, right?). In software we do our practicing on the job, and that’s why we make mistakes on the job. We need to find ways of splitting the practice from the profession. We need practice sessions.

A kata is an exercise that a developer does by himself or herself to improve his or her programming skills.

When a kata is done as a group it is known as a dojo. A dojo facilitated by a coach is a very good way to learn and improve ones programming skills.

Dave Thomas has also dedicated a blog to coding katas. You can read it here.

I would like to urge all software developers to spend some time every week to practice their craft, either alone, or in groups.