The Archaeology Of Programming - Develop Denver 2015

Being a developer is a lot like being an archaeologist. I'll talk about how these two seemingly different disciplines have some commonalities, and what we (as developers) can learn from archaeology. This will be based on my reflections of currently being a developer and having been an archaeologist in the past.

Transcript

1. The Archaeology of Programming Laura Steadman Engineering Lead, Quick Left T witter: @adventuresteady ! ! ! Develop Denver August 7, 2015
4. @quickleft
5. How do you jump into an existing codebase and get productive quickly?
6. What is Archaeology?
7. WRONG! PALEONTOLOGY
11. http://happenchancelife.com/2012/10/28/let-it-snow-let-it-snow-let-it-snow/
12. What is Programming?
14. ! http://geeknewscentral.com/2013/05/05/spyeye-hacker-extradited-to-the-u-s/
16. Anthropology archaeology linguistics cultural anthropology biological anthropology
17. “the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that has been left behind by past human populations” –Wikipedia
18. How Can Archaeology Help Us Be Better Developers?
19. Excavating ! (Codebases)
20. Use all the resources you have! Do your research.
21. Written Record biased (who did the writing?) sometimes just wrong not everyone represented in writing http://www.ahs-inc.biz/Daniels/probate.html
22. Written Record API Docs Wikis
23. Oral History Not everyone leaves a written record Not always accurate Can provide insight into how people think about the world around them Can help us understand why things are certain ways
25. Cultural Context helps to give meaning to what you find. what have we learned from previous excavations of similar sites?
26. Cultural Context how do people talk about the project? what’s the project’s past? was the project a start up moving fast and taking on tech debt? was there a shift in focus at some point? what kind of process is used? agile? waterfall?
27. and then, finally…
32. https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2013/werowocomoco-ceremony-america-didnt-begin-in-1607.php
34. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Powhatan_john_smith_map.jpg
35. http://powhatan.wm.edu/insideExcavations/Zuniga.htm
36. http://powhatan.wm.edu/insideExcavations/Zunigawero.htm
38. http://www.wm.edu/as/anthropology/research/fieldschool2010/
39. What does the code tell you? How is the application put together? What can you learn from the tests? What other ways do you look for clues?
41. Discovering Uncomfortable T ruths
42. Discovering Uncomfortable T ruths Security Vulnerabilities Code that’s not doing what everyone assumes it’s doing Bugs
43. http://textiles314.rssing.com/chan-8028912/latest.php http://textiles314.rssing.com/chan-8028912/latest.php http://www.britannica.com/place/Lowell-Massachusetts/images-videos
44. https://trowelpoints.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/then-and-now-nineteenth-century-medicine/
45. Making our projects successful
46. The less glamorous parts can be the key to a project’s success
47. http://www.westpointfoundry.org/Fieldschool2008/week6.html
48. http://www.globalgilson.com/munsell-soil-color-charts
52. Document For the Future even if it feels obvious to you right now, someone in the future will wonder what’s going on.
54. Be conscious of what patterns, practices, and tools you’re using
56. Be Interdisciplinary Bring in knowledge from other fields
57. Archaeobotany Phytoliths Plants take up silica with water. Silica becomes shaped in ways particular to the plant. http://www.mnh.si.edu/highlight/phytoliths/ maize phytoliths
58. Don’t do everything all at once You’ll know more in the future.
60. Be agile.
62. Why Should You Think About Your Work As If It Were Archaeology? Understanding a project more fully helps you work on it more effectively Empathy for those who have worked on it in the past More mindful of how your work affects future developers
63. Thanks For Listening! laura@quickleft.com @adventuresteady ! ! Quick Left quickleft.com @quickleft
64. The End.