GOTO is a vendor independent international software development conference with more that 90 top speaker and 1300 attendees. The conference cover topics such as .Net, Java, Open Source, Agile, Architecture and Design, Web, Cloud, New Languages and Processes

Workshop: "Code as a crime scene (sold out)"

Track: Workshop / Time: Wednesday 09:00 - 16:00 / Location: Christian

We’ll never be able to understand large-scale systems from a single snapshot of the code. Instead, we need to understand how the code evolves and how the people who work on it are organized. In this workshop you'll learn novel analysis techniques to support both those technical and organizational decisions around your codebase. 

The techniques are based on software evolution. They use data from the most underused informational source that we have in our industry: our version-control systems. Combined with metaphors from forensic psychology you'll learn to analyze version-control data to:
  • Identify the code that's most expensive to maintain amongst millions lines of code.
  • Predict the modules that are most prone to defects.
  • Detect architectural decay and learn to control it.
  • Analyze different architectures such as layers and microservices.
Since large-scale software development is also a social activity, we'll make sure to cover techniques that let you:
  • Build a knowledge map of your codebase.
  • Understand how multiple developers influence code quality and what you can do about it.
  • Get a psychological perspective on the challenges and pitfalls of large-scale development.
We'll analyze systems written in different languages such as C#, Java, and Scala. Since the techniques you'll learn are language agnostic, you will be able to apply them to your own codebase immediately. Once you've finished this workshop you'll have a completely new way to look at your codebase and a powerful toolbox.

Style: This workshop is delivered in a practical hands-on style. We'll mix theory with hands-on analyses. The exercises are done by analyzing real-world systems to find real problems.

Audience: This workshop is for programmers and software architects. While we use Git for the exercises, the techniques aren't limited to Git and we'll also discuss how you use them with other version-control systems such as Subversion and Mercurial.

Pre-requisites:  Participants that want to take part in the exercises need the following pre-installed:
 - Vagrant: https://www.vagrantup.com/
 - Virtual Box: https://www.virtualbox.org/
 - An SSH client
 - Please ensure that everything works up to this point and that you can do 'vagrant ssh' to connect to the environment.

All other tools will be provided during the workshop as a virtual development environment.

Adam Tornhill, Senior Consultant

Adam Tornhill

Biography: Adam Tornhill

Adam is a programmer that combines degrees in engineering and psychology. He’s the author of Your Code as a Crime Scene, has written the popular Lisp for the Web tutorial and self-published a book on Patterns in C. Adam also writes open-source software in a variety of programming languages. His other interests include modern history, music and martial arts.

Twitter: @AdamTornhill