Ward And Kent

Ward Cunningham and Kent Beck wrote a lot of Smalltalk code (Hot Draw, Diagramming Debugger, Literate Program Browser, etc.) and a fair amount of tech reports together in Tek Labs. They wrote the original Crc Card paper from Ward's idea (c2.com ).

Ward And Kent remind me sometimes of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They both dance superbly, but not at all the same. Ward has anti-gravity, Kent has atomic energy. -- Ron Jeffries

Info World published this picture of the extreme programmer's secret handshake in their October 9, 2000 issue. The photograph is by Lowell Lindstrom who caught Ward And Kent "pairing" at Xp Immersion Four.

So which one is ET?

I was surprised and pleased by the sparkle. Their art department said we had far and away the best picture. I agree. -- Kent Beck

Text contained in the above image, for those who can't see it:

Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham

These two innovators bear watching as they promote a new methodology for software development called extreme programming, or XP. Based on four core values - communication, simplicity, feedback, and courage - this controversial approach to software development promises to better integrate the business and technical teams across your company, increase collaboration, and deliver results of a higher quality. But XP's location-centric approach may not work as well for distributed development projects, and coding in pairs as defined by XP may not work at some companies. Additional data is needed to determine success vs. failure ratios of XP vs. other approaches. And it remains to be seen how XP will mesh with the advent of the virtual organization. -- MaggieBiggs

(Idea: It would be even cooler if the light star in the picture above looked like the "X" star on the extreme programming books.)

Category Crc Cards

See original on c2.com