Hermione Granger and the Wizard Information System

While her first six years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are well documented, most know that Hermione Granger did not attend Hogwarts for her scheduled seventh and final year due to unforeseen circumstances involving Voldemort, hunting horcruxes, and saving the world. Many are unaware that Miss Granger returned to Hogwarts after Voldemort’s death to complete her seventh year and take her N.E.W.T. exams. During this time, Miss Granger consulted with Professor McGonagall to arrange several short-term internships and independent studies, including a three-month stint at Maleficus Revelio, the software development consulting firm responsible for the Ministry of Magic's Wizard Information System (WIS). Last year, I conducted a series of interviews with Miss Granger, now with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, about her experience as a software developer intern; this presentation is the result of those interviews.

Although Hogwarts gave her no direct experience in maintaining a large software system, Hermione discovered that her time as a student, researcher, and activist had excellently prepared her for this role. In particular, her experience at Hogwarts and in fighting the Dark Lord involved collaboration, creative problem solving, research and documentation, and critical thinking skills. Her prior mishap with Polyjuice Potion helped her understand the vital role that testing plays in software development, and her experience with solving logic puzzles while helping recover the Sorcerer’s Stone aided her in outlining her code before she began writing. Her passion for research made her a natural at documenting her code; it was vital to her that others be able to understand her work. Miss Granger is still very active in the magical open-source community; for example, in addition to her many other useful projects, she’s made her translation of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” available online. This presentation will help audience members relive their own Hogwarts glory days while discovering how those lessons can help them bring more magic into their daily lives as developers.

Given at DjangoCon Europe, March 2016.

Transcript

1. Hermione Granger and the Wizard Information System Lacey Williams Henschel @laceynwilliams
2. ✢ FOREWORD ✢
3. For those select few who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. “
4. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the fourth talk on the second day is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to experience a very painful spoiler. “
5. What does magic have to do with code? What is this talk about? “
6. This talk is about a lot of things.
7. • v But mostly, it’s about how non-technical experience is relevant to your technical job.
8. • v That can take a lot of forms (just like a Patronus!)
9. Let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure. “
10. ✢ CHAPTER 1 ✢ HISTORY OF MAGIC
11. Who is Hermione Granger?
12. Hermione Jean Granger is a talented witch who’s had several prominent positions with the Ministry of Magic. She lives in London with her family.
13. 1991-1999 Attended Hogwarts Aced O.W.L.s & N.E.W.T.s Defeated Voldemort
14. Internship at Maleficus Revelio 2000-2001
15. 2002-2005 Image source
16. 2006-present Image source
17. Wizard Information System* Like Jira, GitHub, and StackOverflow all had a baby, but for wizards. *not for Muggle eyes
18. ✢ CHAPTER 2 ✢ THE RESTRICTED SECTION
20. “Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”
21. Friends help you battle mountain (and other) trolls.
23. Dumbledore’s Army is just a really cool sprint. Image Source
24. The journey to retrieve the Sorcerer’s Stone is just really cool pair programming.
25. ✢ CHAPTER 3 ✢ POLYJUICE POTION
27. class PolyjuicePotion(models.Model): ... def clean(self): # Require human hair if self.hair.type != ‘human’: raise ValidationError(_(‘Hair must be human.’))
28. # tests for Firebolt def check_throwing_rider_jinx(self, broom): try: ride(broom) except ThrowingJinxError: print “This broom is jinxed!”
29. def sectumsempra(victim): # No one knows what this does, but it’s cool cause we never make mistakes so we’re just going to leave this in here. This concludes our documentation on this issue. ...
30. ✢ CHAPTER 4 ✢ THE UNUSABLE VOW
31. The Setup Wizard
32. Users should get to correct mistakes. They shouldn’t get sent to Knockturn Alley when they do something wrong.
33. Image source
35. ✢ CHAPTER 5 ✢ MUTARI INCANATEM (CHANGING SPELLS)
37. Image source
38. Gamp’s Law of Elemental Documentation
39. The Setup Wizard
40. ✢ CHAPTER 6 ✢ SEEN AND UNFORESEEN
41. Image Source
42. I can’t stand another year like that one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I’ve handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I’ll be able to have a normal schedule. “
44. The Setup Wizard
45. ✢ EPILOGUE ✢ I OPEN AT THE CLOSE
46. The Setup Wizard “Well, actually…”
47. Resources Harry Potter book series Harry Potter Wikia Pottermore The Setup Wizard Thanks Adrienne Lowe, Anna Ossowski, Jerry Chen, Kenneth Love, Marc Tamlyn, DjangoCon Europe Financial Aid