On a flight from Melbourne to Newcastle today, I built some support for cyclomatic complexity into Complexian. It's not exposed via the Ant task or the main method yet, but the internals is working fine. I was pretty satisfied with the results of 45 minutes worth of coding.
Kent Beck and Erich Gamma famously wrote JUnit together on a plane trip too. There's something about the confined space and lack of other options (like phones for example) that causes you to focus on the task at hand. I wonder how much value you could get out of sending some members of your team on random flights together purely so they could pair on some interesting code.
Do you have any mile high code that you've created?
Comments
I wrote plenty of code on an overnight ferry between England and the Isle of Man, which is no mean feat when you consider it was a very strong gale. By the end of it many people had been ill, and even I, kebab-eater extraordinaire, had to lie down on the floor to stop myself from joining in. Unfortunately, the code blended in with the rest of the project - I have no idea now what it was.
I've since been back on the same ferry in quieter conditions, and I noticed the rear windows are now covered, presumably so that you don't see the rear of the ship going under the water in high waves.
The real highlight was that I bought some soup while things seemed quiet, then couldn't get it back to my table, as everything started moving again, so I ate it at someone else's table, after a very comical dance whereby I kept the soup upright but myself not so much.
Do aeroplanes provide power points these days? I haven't flown since 2003.
Posted by: Ricky Clarkson | February 20, 2007 01:33 PM
Finding a pair can be a bit difficult...unless you look like Ralph Feinnes that is ;-)
Posted by: Simon Harris | February 20, 2007 02:20 PM
What laptop did you use for the mile-high-programming, Marty?
I always end up sleeping on short flights.
I've been trying to code on shorter train rides (20 minutes+), but my IBM Thinkpad is too big to easily and quickly open or close in a somewhat crowded carriages (I got a seat tho).
Been looking for a smaller and lighter laptop.
Posted by: JJ Halloway | February 20, 2007 04:18 PM
I have a 15" MacBook Pro, which is just ok. If the person in front puts their seat back, I'm hosed. I've been on a couple of flights with Simon Harris recently, and he has a 17" MBP. It barely fits between the arm rests on the seat.
Posted by: Marty Andrews | February 20, 2007 08:43 PM
Shareomatic (http://shareomatic.com) was written during several half-hour train rides, on a MacBook Pro 15". It's not a mile high, but it proves that you can actually make these trips productive.
We've also discussed the idea to stay on the train for a whole day to get some quality pair programming time :-)
Posted by: Tom Klaasen | February 21, 2007 01:32 AM
I believe Kent wrote a lot of "XP Explained" on the train in Europe, when he was based in Switzerland. Parts of jUnit were also written during breaks while hiking in the Swiss mountains (again with Eric).
I find my MacBook Pro starts fast enough to be useful on the tram or on a plane, if I can find a seat on the tram! Planes are often for sleeping though.
Posted by: Steve Hayes | February 25, 2007 04:06 PM