Xp Xtude

Coined by WardCunningham. Describing the "things XP programmers do" as "practices" leads people to treat them as a checklist, the evaluation of which can be used to give a person or team an XpRating?. This is clearly crap. Expert programmers choose from among a wide variety of techniques, sometimes even seemingly contradictory techniques. Hence:

x·tude (td, -tyd) n. Programming A practice prescribed for the development of a specific point of technique. An effort featuring a point of technique but performed because of its practical merit

What the heck does 'point of technique' mean?

The example KentBeck gave at XpUniverse was when you pluck a stringed instrument (banjo?), typically you use your longest fingers to reach the strings furthest away, but in some cases you need to do the opposite. Kent was having some difficulty doing this, and his instructor gave him an exercise (etude) with instructions to practice one hour a day for a week, to help develop this skill.

The important part of the story was that a few weeks later Kent asked his teacher about the etude, and his instructor said, "Are you still doing that? You don't have to do that anymore, but let's try a piece that uses that fingering." And he could do it. Once he had the skill, he didn't have to slavishly follow the etude.

But this is inconsistent, you then give up the practice?

The concept of "practices" in XP is something you do all the time, not like the concept of practices in sport training for example.

Dude, how on earth is 'xtude' pronounced? étude? extude? kstude? ztude?

try ik-'stüd

--GastónNusimovich