Quick Venue update, Sat 26/2/2011 8:50am : We're now meeting at 9:30am at Starbucks at the Beehive centre (New Market Road, Unit 20, Cambridge, CB5 8WR) for coffee across the road from the Agile Workshop, so that we can all get coffee and have somewhere to park our cars + it's a well known landmark that should be easy for all of us to meet up at.

We'll take a gander across the road as soon as we're all mostly arrived and caffeined up. If you're coming by car, you can park at Starbucks. 

Here is link to the map of Starbucks store we're meeting at : http://www.starbucks.com/store/2331

Stephen is putting up a sign on the door at The Agile Workshop saying that we're at StarBucks for those who dont get this message...and arrive early.

txs, Alan

:: Think you don't have time to write to write unit tests, and that TDD will slow you down? Come join us for a fun day (or morning) where we push the limits of how much TDD and BDD practices can actually speed up development. Come learn some tips and tricks from some old hands with some hands on coding...

9:30 am till 1:30pm : Then GeekBeers and continue discussion over lunch and beers.

(image is from one of snowcode's open coding hack sessions - snowcode is the event sponsor.  )

(The venue is tentatively set for Tudor Rose. If I am able to book CB2 for the morning then I will change the venue.)

18/2/2011 : I've added 2 more spots to this event. We'll find a way to squeeze in!

At this workshop we will explore whether it's possible to use TDD and BDD tools, in a rapid application development and protyping scenario, simulating realistic business pressure and harsh deadlines.

There is no promise that BDD is suitable for everyone, and the goal/deliverable of the workshop is to give attendees as much background to BDD/ATDD in the allotted time as well as some insight into effective practices and tricks.

You will learn the concepts of BDD, "Behaviour Driven Development" as well as ATDD "Acceptance Test Driven Development", as well as *some advanced skills on how to write unit and behavior tests for event driven and multi-threaded applications. * time permitting

9:30 till 10am : Arrive, Meet & Greet, Coffee and pastries

 #OpenWrap Primer 

From 9:30 till 10am there will be an #OpenWrap (Package management system) primer, for anyone who has not used OpenWrap before, as we'll be making extensive use of OpenWrap  throughout the day. 

11am - 1:30pm : Track 1 : BDD and automated functional testing of websites

(Beginners guide to BDD / Refresher )
Attendees will learn how to start and stop test runners, setup test environments and automate functional tests and avoid pitfalls and mistakes that make functional web tests brittle and expensive to write. This is NOT a TDD training course and solid TDD experience is required.

                       ... or ...

11am - 1:30pm : Track 2 :  Writing a multithreaded UI Intensive Indie platform Game using TDD and BDD ;-p 

If we have enough attendees, we will break into teams (who will compete with each other and score points based on delivering the customer's [me] requirements ) and will write code in 10 minute "sprints" writing tests and implementing features for a platform Indie game from scratch, from a given set of business requirements. This is strictly time boxed and at the end of each "sprint" the customer will judge working software delivered, and then the team will have a few minutes to discuss and update their strategy for the next sprint.

1:30pm onwards : Track 3: GeekBeers & Lunch at CB2 Bistro, group discussions

Pre-requisites for attending the workshop: (applies to both tracks)

• Solid knowledge and practical experience writing unit tests, mocking frameworks, using test tools like NUnit or MBUnit, or MSTest.
• NB, this is NOT a training course! You must be prepared to work on your own, or pair program with someone on the day, with occassional point in the right direction assistance from the facilitators or other attendees. 
• You must be prepared to help others and share lessons learnt.
• this is an intense hands on coding workshop so bring with your laptop, IDE, Visual studio or other with NUnit or MBUnit  or MSTest installed
• If you do not have any experience with BDD or ATDD then if you have time please try to watch this video (introduction to Specflow - bowling Kata using Specflow) before attending.
• If you don't have a laptop, then you might be able to pair program with someone. The "teams" will be 2 developers pairing.

If you do not have a BDD tool, Gherkin, Specflow or other installed in your IDE, then we can show you how to do BDD using NUnit/MSTest.

Additional link:

• here is a popular blog post on BDD that covers some advanced issues we'll be discussing at GeekBeers: http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2010/03/03/behavior-driven-development-bdd-with-specflow-and-aspnet-mvc/

Examples in Visual Studio, C#, Specflow and NUnit
The facilitator ( AlanH ) will be showing worked examples in Visual studio, NUnit and Specflow,  although the concepts apply across any tool and/or language that supports Gherkin sytax.

About the facilators: (Alan H) + (Alan D)

Alan Hemmings
Lean Agile/Scrum/KanBan/Advocate coach, scrummaster and software contractor with over 20 years experience working with lean startups as well as large corporate teams delivering high capacity financial, web and enterprise solutions.

Alan Dean
Alan is the Chairman of Alt.Net UK, the 'inventor' of Open Spaces Coding Days and presenter to various conferences and user groups.

Important Venue details for Saturday:

Access to the "The Agile Workshop" can be gained through the back of the building on Harvest Way, off New Street. ( If you're from out of town, then get the taxi to drop you off at 190 Newmarket Road, and call either Steve (number tbd) or Alan (07734157754), when you're on your way here so that we can tell you which building and door you need to enter through. A taxi from the Rail station to 190 Newmarket Road would cost about £8.

(easiest way to describe to taxi where to drop you off, is 190 Newmarket Road, corner of newmarket and Coldhams Lane.)

If you can't find the place and are totally lost then head towards the Grafton centre,or corner of Newmarket and Coldham's Lane and I'll walk outside and come fetch you / guide you in. Steve Oakman has offered to collect people from the rail station. If you would like him to collect you please email him at stephen.oakman(at) theagileworkshop.com 

TAXI : The guys from the Agile Workshop recommend A1 taxis. They can be contacted on 01223 525 555 or 01223 313 131