Join in on the Global Day of Code Retreat!

What is a Code Retreat?

Code Retreat is the hottest new craze in professional development technology for amateur, novice, and seasoned programmers. Code retreat is an opportunity for programmers to come together to practice their craft in a social, challenging way. This is an opportunity to discuss, debate, and improve your skills with individuals who are as passionate about their craft as you are! 

What will be going on at Code Retreat?

We'll start the day with coffee and a short keynote regarding the day. We'll begin a session by splitting into pairs and begin to implement Conway's Game of Life using test-driven development techniques in the language of the pair's choice. Pairs will work for approximately 45 minutes. Sessions will end by each team deleting their code, and we'll discuss lessons that we've learned and ideas as a group. We'll repeat this process with a lunch break around noon. Each session we may  issue a challenge to get you to try something new or think out of the box. We'll end the day by individually answering three easy questions (What was your biggest surprise of the day? What did you learn? What will you do differently on Monday?) and discussing as a group.

What will this cost me?

Nothing. Zip. Nada. We'll have coffee provided in the morning and lunch (not pizza!) provided free of charge thanks to BigVisible Solutions. We'll also have some door prizes thanks to a few sponsors of the Global Day of Code Retreat.

What can I do to prepare?

No advanced knowledge is required to participate in Code Retreat, but you can do a few things before hand if you'd like to get a jump on the fun.

First of all, you can look over Conway's Game of Life as that's what we'll be implementing during the course of the day. Don't worry about implementing it before hand. We'll be getting a feel for the problem during the first session of the day. 

Second, you can take some time to become familiar with testing frameworks in your favorite language(s). For example, Unit::Test or RSpec in Ruby, JUnit in Java, NUnit in .NET languages, and so on. Don't sweat if you don't. Simple assertions and if statements will do just fine, and you can get an introduction to these other methods during the course of the day. :)

What should I bring?

The only required items will be a laptop and a passion for improving your craft, but there are a few other things that can help speed things along:

• A spare keyboard and mouse for pair programming.
• A power strip just in case

Who will be sponsoring the event?

Thanks to BigVisible Solutions for food and drink.

A special thank you is extended to The Capital Group Companies for providing the space for the event!