The Way to Neat Code

Synopsis:

This book is a summary of the experience of programming guru "Uncle Bob" over 40 years of programming career, explaining what kind of attitude, what kind of principles and what kind of actions are needed to become a real professional programmer. The author takes the detours and mistakes he and his colleagues have made as examples, with the intention of guiding those who come after him and helping them to take a higher step in their careers.

This book is suitable for all programmers and can be used as a reference for all those who want to become professionally literate in the workplace.

Chapter 14 Tutoring, Apprenticeships and Skills

I have always been quite disappointed with the quality of computer science graduates. The reason for this is not that these graduates are not smart enough or lack talent, but because universities do not teach the true way of programming.

14.1 Failed degrees

I agree that it is possible to get a good education in college, but I also think that it is perfectly possible to muddle through college and get a diploma without actually knowing anything.

Those graduates who fit the bill had one thing in common: they had almost all taught themselves to program before they entered college, and they continued their self-study habits in college.

And there's another problem. Even the best teaching programs for computer science degrees are usually not sufficient to help young graduates be adequately prepared for the challenges they will encounter after work. I'm not here to indict those courses in the teaching programs. There is usually a huge difference between what you learn in school and what you find you actually need on the job.

14.2 Counseling

In the first case, theI learned from the authors through a well-written manual。

In the second case, I have been able to get a better understanding of the situation through theObserving others at work to learn.Even though they treated me as if I was invisible. In both cases, the knowledge I gained was basic but far-reaching.

No one helped me understand what it was like to be a truly professional programmer, and there were few people who specialized in teaching me how to act and what things were valuable to do. I had to figure it out on my own and teach myself, and that was never easy.

I eventually pulled through and was successful. But the process could have gone much better. If I had had a true mentor at the time who could have guided me in depth across the furrows and gullies involved, my path would have been much smoother. I could have observed the way he worked as I gave him a hand with small tasks. He would review my work and guide me in my early days. He would specialize in teaching me the right values and habits of reflective introspection. In this type of role, you could call him a "teacher", "guru" or "mentor".

14.3 Apprenticeships

However, the software development industry has developed a view that a programmer is a programmer, and that once you graduate, you will definitely be able to program. In fact, it's not uncommon for companies to hire kids fresh out of school and then immediately organize them into "teams" and throw them into the development of critical systems. This is ridiculous!

Master:

They are programmers who have led several major software projects. Typically, they have 10+ years of experience, having worked on several different types of systems, languages, and operating systems.
They know how to lead and coordinate multiple teams, and they are skilled designers and architects who can program with ease.
Organizations have offered them management positions, but they have either declined or gone back after accepting a management position, or have integrated management positions with the technical roles they primarily undertake.
They maintain their technical skills by reading, researching, practicing, practicing and teaching. The company will give the guru the primary responsibility for the technical aspects of the project. Think of a guru as "Scotty[5]".

Skilled labor:

They are still in training, but are competent and energetic.
Their experience levels can vary greatly from one another, but the average experience level is around 5 years.
At the current stage of their career, they will learn how to work excellently in teams and be a team leader.
They are well versed in current technology, but are inexperienced with many other systems.
They generally only know one language, one system, and one platform, but they are in the process of constantly learning.
Above them were the very rapidly growing masters, and below them were the apprentices who had just recently come in.
Skilled workers work under the supervision of a master or other senior skilled worker. Rarely are less senior skilled workers allowed to work independently. They work under strict supervision. Their code is scrutinized.
As they gain experience, their autonomy grows. There will be less and less direct intervention, and guidance will tend to be more subtle. Eventually, supervision will move to a "peer review" approach.

Apprenticeships/Internships:

Graduates start their careers as apprentices. Apprentices have no "autonomy" and work under the close supervision of skilled workers.
In the beginning, they will not undertake any tasks individually, but only as assistants to the skilled workers. At this stage, pair programming should be carried out very intensively. This is the period when discipline is learned and all practices are reinforced. The foundations of values are also shaped at this stage.
The skilled tradesmen will act as their mentors. They will make sure that the apprentices are able to understand the design principles, design patterns, various disciplines and fixed operational aspects. Skilled workers will teach them various skills such as TDD, refactoring, estimation, and so on. They will assign reading, practice, and hands-on tasks to the apprentices, and they will also check their progress on the tasks.
The apprenticeship should last at least one year.
At the end of the term, if the skilled worker is willing to accept an apprentice to rise to their level, they recommend the apprentice to the masters. The masters then examine the apprentices through interviews and leveling tests. If they are recognized by the masters, the apprentice is promoted to the rank of Journeyman.

Reality:

In most cases there is virtually no supervision at the technical level! In most companies there is no such thing as a technical supervisor.Whether or not a programmer's level of performance increases and whether or not he or she is ultimately promoted depends on the programmer's own performance.
The main difference between what we do today and the idealized apprenticeship program I advocate is the transfer of skills, training, supervision and inspection.
The biggest difference in perception is thatThe values of professionalism and technical acumen need to be taught, nurtured, nourished and simmered until they are fully embedded in the culture.
The main reason for the inability to pass on our current practices is because of whichThe missing link is the mentoring of newcomers by senior people to teach them their craft.

14.4 Skill

Skill is the state of mind held by the artisan. Values, principles, techniques, attitudes and righteousness are contained in the meme[6] of skill.

Art ModelsPassed on by word of mouth and hand to hand, it needs to be taught by the senior to the young apprentice and then passed on from apprentice to apprentice。

The senior person observes the learning process of the young apprentice, and then constantly reflects on and improves the way of teaching. Technical modeling is like a "contagious disease", a "mental virus". By observing other people's work and letting the model take root, you too will be "infected" with the technical model.

Awareness:

You can't convince someone to become a smith, you can't convince them to embrace the skill modifier.

The rhetoric is unhelpful, the data is inconsequential, and the case studies tell us nothing.Acceptance of a skill model is not a rational decision-making process, nor is it a matter of emotion. It is closely related to humanthing.

So how do we get people to accept the skill model? As I said earlier, as long as a skill model can be observed, it is contagious. Therefore.Simply make the skill modality observable to others. You yourself must first become an example. You yourself must first become a master craftsman and show people your skill. Then, leave the rest to the natural workings of the skill modality.

14.5 Conclusion

What schools can teach is the theory of computer programming. But schools do not and cannot teach the principles, practices, and skills that you need to master as a programming craftsman. These things can only be acquired through years of careful supervision and tutoring between individual masters and apprentices.

A group of people like us in the software industry have to deal with the fact thatThe burden of guiding the next generation of software developers to maturity cannot be placed on university education, but is now on our shoulders. The need for a mechanism that includes apprenticeships, internships, and long-term mentoring is urgent.

---meme modulo:

The term, meme, first appeared in the book The Selfish Gene, published in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, a renowned zoologist and behavioral ecologist at the University of Oxford, England. Dawkins' main purpose in coining the term meme was to illustrate the laws of cultural evolution. In his view, the basic unit of human cultural evolution is the meme.A meme refers largely to "a behavior or cultural attribute that is transmitted in a non-genetic way (e.g., by imitation).". Any piece of information can be called a meme if it can be reproduced through a process known broadly as "imitation", that is to say.Any idea, saying or practice acquired and transmitted through imitation can be counted as a meme, such as "the melody of a tune, the trend of an idea, a fashionable phrase, a fashionable article of clothing, a way of making pottery or building an arch," and so on.Today, the study of memes and their socio-cultural impacts is known as Memetics, which in this article is translated as "modality." Dawkins coined the term "meme" from gene, which is a parody of the word "gene". Dawkins coined meme from gene, and the word "modality" is a parody of the word "gene". --Translator's note