Come join the fun each day after lunch where pre-selected (nominated) conference attendees will be paired with legendary programmers to perform live on stage before a panel of famous (and outspoken) judges. Watch the contestants test-drive tricky algorithms, refactor poorly designed code, and more. Audience members cast votes for who should ultimately be crowned as the winning duo.
What it is
"Programming with the Stars" (loosely modeled on the popular TV show "Dancing with the Stars") celebrates the art of professional programming. Its purpose is to promote expert agile development skills, raise awareness of those skills, and recognize those among our ranks who have attained a high degree of mastery. It's also a lot of fun!
How it works
We'll begin with selected conference participants (who signed up for programming with the stars) showing off their skills. Each person will be given 3 mins on the first day. Out of these contestants our audience will pick 4 winners. Day 2, we begin with four pairs of contestants. Winning conference attendees are each paired with a "star".
During the competition, each pair performs a prepared routine of 6 minutes in length based on any of the following category listed below. Pairs can use any programming language and tools that they like, as long as they stay within the guidelines of the category. We'll not provide any code. Everything required by the pairs will be brought by them. All of the pairing action shows on the big screen, and microphones capture the intense dialogue between the pairs.
When time runs out, the panel of judges weigh in with their feedback and scores. Each judge awards up to 10 points for the performance, based on
- Effective pairing & collaboration
- Successful completion of the programming task
- Degree of improvisation and spontaneity
- Overall "impressiveness"
Once all pairs have performed on the second day, our judges casts the final vote for which pair wins.
The competition is also sprinkled with lively comedy from the hosts, outrageous commentary from the judges, and a smattering of guest performances along the way.
Prizes
The Winning Pair will select any one eLearning Album* in a language of their choice (C++, C#, C or Java) from Industrial Logic's eLearning Greatest Hits. Each winner will receive an unlimited lifetime access to the album selected.
*Please note this item is non-transferable and may only be used by the winner and is good towards one single album from Industrial Logic’s Greatest Hits Shop; this does not include box sets.
Competition categories
The following categories are used during the competition.
TDD from Scratch
Starting with a completely blank editor, create some sort of working code using the TDD process. BDD is also fine.
TDD onto Existing Codebase
Starting with existing code and unit tests (and decent test coverage), add some additional functionality using the TDD process.
Refactor
Starting with existing code and unit tests, improve the code without altering its behavior (as demonstrated by the tests).
SDD onto New or Existing Codebase
(SDD is Storytest-Driven Development, and is also known as Acceptance-Test-Driven Development). Use xUnit, FIT, FitNesse, Selenium, or a similar tool to drive the creation of some feature or story.
Demonstrate IDE Expertise
Wow the audience and judges with your proficiency in your development tool of choice
Participants
Hosts
- Naresh Jain
- Sandeep Shetty
Judges
- David Hussman
- J. B. Rainsberger
- Jeff Patton
Contestants
| Star | Pair Partner |
| -------------------- | ----------------- |
| Bhavin Javia |
TBD |
| Darshan Joshi | TBD |
| Sriram Narayan | TBD |
| Vikas Gupta | TBD |
