How many of you are Extreme Programmers?

Peter Hansen peter at engcorp.com
Wed Apr 16 10:47:23 EDT 2003


Christopher Blunck wrote:
> [snip]
> That got me to thinking:  continuous testing is a cornerstone of the
> XP methodology.  <generalization>And Python programmers typically
> write lots of tests</generalization> (at least more than their Java
> counterparts from what I've seen).  That being said, can that
> generalization be extended to "Python programmers subscribe to the XP
> methodology"?
> 
> So how many of you guys use XP processes?

My team at Kaval Wireless is an XP team, with (currently) nine 
developers using two-week iterations, test-driven development (TDD),
daily scrums, no overtime, on-site customer, The Works...

Most development is done with Python, and we definitely find a 
*very strong* synergy between Python and the XP processes, especially
on the testing front.

We also do some Javascript, and some embedded C work (realtime
kernel, 16-bit micros), both of which we are slowly wrapping with
a framework allowing tests to be written in Python using PyUnit
(a.k.a. unittest.py).

Our evolution to being an XP team (over about two years) came about 
at the same time as our adoption of Python, and I believe it would be 
next to impossible to distinguish between the two in terms of which 
came first.  I believe it was a positive feedback loop, with each 
feeding a growing appreciation for and dependence on the other.

As the man says, "Python is an agile language!" :-)

(See http://www.agilealliance.org for more on that term.)

-Peter




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