String Calculator Kata in Python
For those who aren't familiar, katas are those impressive sequences of movements that you've surely seen martial arts guys perform. Code katas are the same idea applied to writing code: you solve a problem many times, mastering the movements, and then perform it for others.
My friend Corey Haines has worked with some other people to run a Katacast site dedicated to code katas, posting them roughly once per week. Recently, there's been a string of solutions to the same problem, with my Python version as this week's entry.
Briefly, here's the problem I solve. I have numbers coming in as a string, separated by commas or newlines. My job is to add those numbers and return the sum. There are two complications:
- If the first line of the string is of the form "//*", then * is also a possible delimiter. This works for any string, not just *.
- Negative numbers must be rejected.
You can see the kata and read my brief commentary on the Katacasts site, or go straight to Vimeo to watch it. It's only 4:32 long, so it's not a big commitment.
String Calculator Kata In Python from Gary Bernhardt on Vimeo.
My screencasts always prompt questions about my Vim configuration, so take a look at my dotfiles repo if you're interested. For this kata, I'm slowing down intentionally – typing slower and inserting small, regular pauses so the viewer has time to look around a bit. I may post a "hard mode" version at full speed if people show interest.
Comments are encouraged, of course – the purpose of a kata is improvement!
If you like this, by the way, you may also enjoy the refactoring screencast I posted recently.