Self-Care
TDD For Your Soul: Virtue Through Software Development
#test-driven-development-tdd
#personal-development
#ethics
#self-care
#character-development
#software-development
#developer-experience-dx
Summarized using AI
TDD For Your Soul: Virtue Through Software Development
by Abraham SanghIn the talk titled "TDD For Your Soul: Virtue Through Software Development" presented by Abraham Sangh at MountainWest RubyConf 2016, the speaker explores the intersection of software development and personal character development through the concept of Test-Driven Development (TDD). The primary theme revolves around the idea that developers can cultivate personal virtues alongside technical skills by applying TDD principles to their character.
Key points discussed include:
- Definition of TDD: TDD is summarized in three steps: Red (writing a failing test), Green (writing code to pass the test), and Refactor (improving the code without changing its behavior).
- Character Development Framework: Sangh connects TDD to personal growth, labeling it as "TDD for your soul", suggesting that just as developers iteratively improve their code, they can also improve themselves.
- Cardinal Virtues: The four cardinal virtues are outlined—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—each discussed in context with coding and personal development.
- Self-Control: Emphasizing the importance of regulating impulses and desires, the speaker shares how self-control is crucial in coding practices, illustrated with the Law of Demeter.
- Courage: Courage is defined as the ability to face fears, particularly in the face of failure or challenges in learning to code. Sharing examples from pair programming reinforces its importance.
- Justice: Sangh defines justice in software development as recognizing and fulfilling obligations to others, creating code that is maintainable and fair.
- Wisdom: Wisdom involves making informed choices and learning from experiences, with advice from notable figures like Confucius highlighting various pathways to understanding wisdom.
- Practical Application: Sangh encourages reflecting on personal virtues and setting concrete goals ("failing specs") to improve character, showcasing a method of integrating virtue development with daily routines.
- Overcoming Resistance: The talk addresses common feelings of shame and inadequacy that hinder personal growth, using anecdotes and cultural references to encourage embracing vulnerability and learning from failures.
- Call to Action: The speaker concludes by urging the audience to pursue self-improvement through the lens of TDD, thereby aspiring to be better developers and individuals, and fostering a community of support around these ideals.
Overall, Santagh’s illustrative and actionable approach provides a philosophical yet practical guide for software developers seeking to enhance both their technical and personal virtues through intentional self-reflection and development.
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Hey.
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Okay, so our last speaker is Abraham Sangha. He spoke last year or the year before.
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Last year at Mountain West JavaScript, which was a sister conference to Mountain West Ruby, and he gave just as fantastic a talk.
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So again, the question is, I really like to know where Abraham's head is at a year later.
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I really like to leave something at the end of Mountain West. I love to leave something I can do, what Abraham said last year.
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So I'm very, very pleased and grateful that Abraham agreed to come back and talk to us again.
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I'm really looking forward to it, so thank you for coming.
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Thanks for having me! My name is Abraham, as Mike mentioned. I'm talking about TDD for your soul.
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If you're confused, I think that's appropriate. I'm going to explain exactly what I mean by that.
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But you can tweet. I would love to hear your comments, critiques, whatever you have to say.
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Let me know. As I would say to my friends, get at me. Just let me hear it.
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So TDD for your soul means virtue through software development.
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I'm assuming everyone here knows what TDD means, but just in case, let’s quickly review.
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We can summarize it with three steps: red, green, and refactor.
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Red is writing a test or a spec that fails. Green is writing the code to make that test or spec pass.
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The third step is refactor. Refactor is changing the code to improve readability and elegance while maintaining its behavior.
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That's the refactoring step, and then you start over again at step number one.
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So that's TDD—test-driven development. Now, what's the "for your soul" piece?
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I'm sorry, so how TDD helps me is when I'm at this stage in software development where the world is my oyster.
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Every option in the universe is available to me, and I just don't know where to start.
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Often, it helps for me to start with writing a spec.
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I like how Davis put it in a blog post: it's about figuring out what you're trying to do before you run off half-cocked.
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So there's some intentionality there. There's a purposeful step in writing a spec.
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Now, I didn't explain the "for your soul" piece yet.
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So what does TDD for your soul mean? Let me illustrate with an example from one of the greatest characters in modern TV, Walter White.
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How many people know who this is? Okay, good, we're on the same page.
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He can never be sure, you know. But so Walter White, he's a genius.
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He uses his powers not for good, but for evil. He builds a meth empire.
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I'm not giving away anything by letting you know that. Science is not a self-directing process.
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It can be used for good or for evil. So as people involved in science and technology, we have the same opportunity.
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We can use our powers for good or for evil, and what I propose is that we need a lot more good in this world.
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If everyone in this room united under that vision, I think we could do a lot of good.
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So that's the premise of my talk: TDD for your soul.
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Now, let me just be clear. I didn't get into software development with these lofty thoughts in mind.
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And if you work with me, you might say I don't even live up to them.
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So glad I'm coming all the way out here to Salt Lake City to give this talk. I'm from Chicago.
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I appreciate that. When I got into coding, I had much more base desires.
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I had much less lofty goals. My goal was really simple: I got into coding to get paid.
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You know what I mean. Someone else knows what I'm talking about.
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I wanted to eat olives out of a goblet. That's where I was headed.
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But what I found through the process of learning how to code, developing software, and working on a team was this:
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the process of software development was not just a chance for me to grow my technical abilities.
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It wasn't just an opportunity to feed my family. It was a chance for me to become the best Abraham that I could be.
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So hopefully, at the end of this talk, you can see that same path, that same process, is available to you.
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Now, in order to talk about what that means, I'll be using the four cardinal virtues.
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For thousands of years, moral philosophers have discussed the cardinal virtues.
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Everyone here looks pretty virtuous to me, but I saw some really shady people up in the top.
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I don't know if you guys have been up there.
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So for them, I'm going to explain what the four cardinal virtues are.
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They are self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom—self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom.
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The first one is courage. What does courage have to do with software development?
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My lack of self-control came out quite a bit when I first started learning how to write code.
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I would be staring at a screen, similar to this one, feeling defeated. I felt anger and frustration.
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It was hard because I was often at Starbucks trying to learn how to code.
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I don't know if anyone else has been in that situation, but it's difficult.
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I didn't know how to read a stack trace. I didn't know it was actually giving me clues as to what was wrong.
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It was very frustrating. My lack of self-control showed in these moments.
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I want to see something starting to happen after this talk.
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As developers, we need to think about how we can help each other with our lack of self-control.
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We may use an example like the law of Demeter. The law of Demeter is summed up simply.
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An object should only talk to itself or its neighbors.
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In an object's method, it should talk to its parameters and that sort of thing.
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But when you see code with a trail of dots, there’s a smell.
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There’s something happening there where that there's overreach. We see data being accessed across multiple objects.
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We know what we want, and we know how to access it. But reaching across three or four objects can cause issues.
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So, the law of Demeter is a constraint we put on ourselves to write good code.
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But it takes self-control to adhere to these constraints.
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It’s hard to talk about self-control in our context.
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This is the Platonic ideal of a workplace, and I don’t think I could explain to my dad.
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Working the sewers in Chicago, what self-control means in coding.
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You ever have moments where you’re struggling with self-control in programming?
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As developers, we want to know what's right and true, and we need to tell everybody.
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Self-control can be difficult, especially when we oscillate between despair and megalomania.
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It's not a healthy way to live. How do we demonstrate self-control?
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We have desires and impulses, and we need to control them. Are we controlling them or are they controlling us?
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My dad taught me everything through action movies. He said a man’s gotta know his limitations.
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Self-control is about knowing who you are and your limitations.
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It’s about being honest about them and regulating them through good habits.
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When we think about self-control in coding, we can think about what it means to live in a self-controlled way.
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The next virtue is courage.
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What does courage have to do with coding? Courage is the ability to overcome fear.
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A lot of fears we have are centered around failure.
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When thinking about coding, we often consider how to handle exceptions.
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When writing a mixin, how do you handle exceptions?
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If the action you're attempting doesn't happen, do you let anyone know?
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Utilizing custom exceptions makes it easier to debug and find stack traces.
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Transparency about your failures, or errors, is essential.
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How can we look at courage from a broader perspective?
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There's a lot of courage in engineering itself.
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Facing challenges without the necessary context is often the case when developing.
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We are sometimes given a story or a set of requirements without clues on how to dig in.
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But that challenge is often what we look forward to, and that takes courage.
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Richard Feynman said the excitement comes from making discoveries.
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Similarly, pair programming requires vulnerability and courage.
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It's exposing your thought process in real-time, which can be daunting.
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Many developers struggle with this, especially if we feel confused or lost.
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Sharing through pairing can lead to incredible learning opportunities.
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But it still takes courage to jump in and show vulnerability.
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This is one of the earliest pieces of code I wrote; it finds the mode of an array.
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It's convoluted and horrible. Don't look at it too closely.
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However, it worked at the time, and I was happy with it.
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A more experienced friend sent me his solution, which was elegant and concise.
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I thought, "Wow, what can I learn from this?" I learned a lot from his example.
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Courage is about being open to learning and embracing the growth mindset.
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Brené Brown said courage starts with showing up and allowing ourselves to be seen.
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This brings up questions about our lives: are we living courageous lives?
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Shame can prevent us from our goals. Are we letting fear control our lives?
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Next, let's look at justice. What does justice have to do with writing code?
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Justice is depicted as blind to symbolize an impartial process of weighing obligations.
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Fulfilling one's obligations and giving to each what is owed is a simple definition of justice.
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Justice in software development can mean recognizing unfulfilled obligations.
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It’s about understanding our obligations to others when writing code.
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The code that we write does not solely belong to us; it belongs to everyone.
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Writing organized code and fulfilling obligations helps create better, maintainable code.
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In this way, justice is about being flexible and adaptable in our coding to meet external demands.
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Just as design is more about preserving changeability than achieving perfection.
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This relates to justice because writing code that fulfills obligations is flexible.
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Michael Sandel stated that thinking about justice compels us to consider how we should live.
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Reflecting on our obligations can lead us to live more just lives.
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Now, let's explore wisdom. What does wisdom have to do with coding?
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Wisdom is about making good choices and navigating through complexities.
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When Uncle Bob talks about design patterns, he highlights that they are proven solutions to common problems.
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These patterns embody wisdom accumulated over years.
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While coding, we learn from others’ experiences and wisdom by using established patterns.
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Confucius shared three methods to learn wisdom: by reflection, imitation, and experience.
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Reflection is the noblest path; imitation is the easiest, and experience is often the hardest.
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Some developers gain wisdom by reflecting on problems they’re familiar with.
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Others learn by imitation, while many find wisdom through hard experiences.
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We all deal with inflexibility in code that we’ve written and come to regret.
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We learn that some decisions need revising through painful lessons.
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So, let's take wisdom and examine how it applies beyond coding to our lives.
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Do we have time set aside to reflect and consider our own lives?
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How many people have mentors or examples they wish to imitate?
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Are you suffering through experiences to gain wisdom, or are you learning through others?
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We've talked about the four cardinal virtues: self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom.
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I like how Alasdair MacIntyre put it in his book, After Virtue.
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We could define our self-improvement plans like TDD for our souls.
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Ask yourself: Who am I? Who ought I to become? How do I get there?
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For example, if I want to grow in self-control, I write a failing spec for it.
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Let’s say my goal is to get up early, which means I need to go to bed early.
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So, I set a concrete goal: I will close my laptop at 9 PM every night.
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Then, I either pass or fail that test. I build up habits over time.
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Once I can achieve this goal of closing my laptop at 9 PM, I pass that spec.
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At that point, I can refactor that goal and consider how to maintain self-control.
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TDD for your soul encourages writing tests against your life.
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It’s about defining where you want to be and the virtues that can guide you.
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As you establish goals that may initially fail, work towards becoming that virtuous person.
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I could end it here and walk off stage, and everyone would applaud.
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But I want to say a little bit more.
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I think a lot of us might resist the process of TDD for your soul.”
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This resistance often comes from shame—a sense of lacking worthiness.
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We might question why we would write failing tests about our lives.
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Why would we admit to a lack of courage or acknowledge our shortcomings?
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Many may feel fine despite poor decisions, prompting resistance to changing.”
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Shame can whisper that we’re not good enough.
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However, those failures can lead us to a better place.
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I want to share something important using a reference from the series Firefly.
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Shepherd Book tells Mal, 'I don’t care what you believe; just believe it.'
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In times of struggle, it’s vital to have something important to hold onto for improvement.
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Similarly, my process of developing virtues stems from my beliefs.
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For many Christians, this week evokes powerful reflections of overcoming shame with resurrection.
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It forms the basis of how I combat shame and pursue virtue.
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What is your basis for combating shame? How do you fight against it?
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In Chicago, where I’m from, the blues serves as a metaphor for processing pain.
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It captures the essence of keeping painful episodes alive while transcending them.
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Similarly, our vulnerabilities don’t have to lead to shame that halts our growth.
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Our failures can encourage us to create character and refine who we are.
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The world needs individuals with self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom.
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As we reach the end of my talk, I hope you see a clear path forward.
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Together, we can become better programmers and better people.
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So, let's work towards being the best versions of ourselves.
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Thank you!
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Yeah, that's a great question. Let me repeat it.
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Basically, how do I incorporate the content of this talk at work?
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I appreciate that. I think, to be honest, I’ve struggled with that a bit.
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When I put it out there at work, it means I have to live up to it.
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I want to do that, but I haven't given this talk at any workplace yet.
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I think that I ought to, as you've given me something to think about.
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Currently, my moments of reflection happen on the train to work.
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I wear headphones to listen to lectures or music, and I’ve been journaling.
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You have to carve out time for those moments.
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The question was where do I find time for reflection?
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The virtues are subjective, and we all define them in different ways.
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How do I write these tests and get external validation?
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That's a great question.
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For me, I am part of a religious tradition, so I have guidance.
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But for those who aren't part of such traditions, finding a shared meaning is crucial.
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It is essential to have a community that helps define what wisdom or courage looks like.
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I need the feedback from people who care about me; my wife is good at that.
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Leading into the next part, what led me to this direction?
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We live in a broken world, and I think about how we can be better.
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Learning through analogy was natural for me while learning to code.
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It started as a small lightning talk and grew from there.
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I kept giving talks because people responded well to this concept.
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The question was, what's my metric for measuring growth?
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There's no simple answer; it depends on your context and who you are.
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Growing virtue is a lifelong journey.
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It will never be over until you die.
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Thank you for your great questions.
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