3 Kata
Tawanda Eschbaugh
Kihon, kata and kumite are the three pillars of karate. While kihon is the basic or fundamentals of martial arts moves, kumite involves sparring against an opponent or a partner using various martial arts techniques.
Despite being a huge part of Japanese martial arts and culture, kata originally draws its roots from China. In ancient times, masters or practitioners of Chinese Kung Fu found it difficult to illustrate the techniques, both offensive and defensive, through words or paintings.
In what was an amalgamation of the Chinese martial arts forms, particularly Fujian Kung Fu, acquired through kata and the pre-existing local Ryukyuan hand-to-hand fighting technique over many years, a new martial arts style called Te or Tode was formed, which would later come to be known as karate.
From the scope of karate, kata is the full repository of innumerable karate moves and techniques in their truest form, meant to be practised as they are. While some are used in kumite bouts, not all are or can be.
While in essence practice of kata is the means to preserve and safeguard the traditional techniques and styles of karate in their original form and ultimately to pass them on, it has also found its way into competitive sports.
At regular karate kata competitions, participants perform in pairs and are given a blue or red belt. After the two perform their kata moves, five judges use the flag system (blue or red flag) to choose their winner.
When I talk to other programmers about katas, I often get the impression that people fail to extract value from the exercises. You can find catalogues of exercises on the internet, but there's a dearth of articles that discuss how to do katas.
Some people translate that concept literally. They try to do programming katas by doing the same exercise again and again, with no variation. After a few days or weeks, they stop because they can't see the point.
You can find various kata catalogues on the internet. One of my favourites is the Coding Dojo. Among the katas there, I particularly like the Tennis kata. I'll use that as an example to describe how I often approach a kata.
The first time I encounter a kata I've never done before, I do it with as little fuss as possible. I use the programming language I'm most comfortable with, and don't attempt any stunts. I no longer remember when I first encountered the Tennis kata, but it's many years ago, and C# was my preferred language. I'd do the Tennis kata in C#, then, just to get acquainted with the problem.
Most good katas contain small surprises. They may sound simpler than they actually turn out to be. On the other hand, they're typically not overwhelmingly difficult. It pays to overcome the surprise the kata may hold without getting bogged down by trying some feat. The Tennis kata, for example, sounds easy, but most people stumble on the rules associated with deuce and advantage. How to model the API? How do you implement the algorithm?
Here's a list of suggestions:
- Follow test-driven development (TDD). That's my usual modus operandi, but if you don't normally practice TDD, a kata is a great opportunity.
- Use the (Gollum style) Devil's Advocate technique with TDD.
- Follow the Transformation Priority Premise.
- Do TDD without mocks.
- Do TDD with mocks.
- Use the Test Data Builder design pattern.
- Try property-based testing. I've done that with the Tennis kata multiple times.
- Put your mouse away.
- Hide the file tree in your editor or IDE. In Visual Studio, this is called the Solution Explorer, in Visual Studio Code it's just Explorer. Navigate the code by other means.
- Use another editor or IDE.
- Use another programming language. A kata is a great way to practice a new language. When you're learning a new language, you're often fighting with unfamiliar syntax, which is the reason I recommend that you first do the kata in a language with which you're familiar.
- Use only immutable data structures. This is a good first step towards learning functional programming.
- Keep the cyclomatic complexity of all methods at 1. I once did that with the Tennis kata.
- Use an unfamiliar API. If you normally use NUnit then try xUnit.net instead. Use a new Test Double library. Use a different assertion library. I once did the Tennis kata in Haskell using the lens library because I wanted to hone those skills. I've also done the Mark IV coffee maker exercise from APPP with Reactive Extensions.
- Employ a design pattern you'd like to understand better. I've had particular success with the Visitor design pattern.
- Refactor an existing kata solution to another design.
- Refactor another programmer's kata solution.
- Pair-program the kata.
- Use the Ping Pong pattern when pair programming.
- Mob-program it.
What I like about katas is that they're small enough that you can do the same exercise multiple times, but with different designs. This makes it easy to learn new ways of doing things, because you can compare different approaches to the same problem.
The way that the idea of a programming kata was originally introduced is a bit unfortunate. On one hand, the metaphor may have helped adoption because martial arts are cool, and Japanese is a beautiful language. On the other hand, the underlying message is one of repetition, which is hardly helpful when it comes to exercising the brain.
On Codewars, kata are code challenges focused on improving skill and technique. Some train programming fundamentals, while others focus on complex problem solving. Others are puzzles meant to test your creative problem solving, while others are based on real world coding scenarios.
The term was first coined by Dave Thomas, co-author of the book The Pragmatic Programmer as an acknowledgment to the Japanese concept of kata in the martial arts. Dave's version of the concept defines a code kata as an exercise in programming which helps a programmer sharpen their skills through practice and repetition.
Uninstalling the GPU Operator or the NVIDIA Kata Manager does not remove the filesthat the manager downloads and installs in the /opt/nvidia-gpu-operator/artifacts/runtimeclasses/kata-qemu-nvidia-gpu/directory on the worker nodes.
If you're looking for some examples of code kata -- ways to practice effortful study and hone your programming skills -- Steve's article has some excellent starting points. He calls them practice drills:
Ananguku Tjukurpa kunpu pulka alatjitu ngaranyi. Inma pulka ngaranyi munu Tjukurpa pulka ngaranyi ka palula tjana-languru kulini munu uti nganana kunpu mulapa kanyinma. Miil-miilpa ngaranyi munu Ananguku Tjukurpa nyanga pulka mulapa. Tjukurpa panya tjamulu, kamilu, mamalu, ngunytjulu nganananya ungu, kurunpangka munu katangka kanyintjaku.
Criterion (vi): The cultural landscape is of outstanding significance for the way it is perceived as the creation of Mala, Lungkata, Itjaritjari, Liru and Kuniya - these are heroic ancestral beings of the Tjukurpa. The landscape isread as a text specifying the relationship between the land and its Indigenous inhabitants, as laid down by the Tjukurpa. The monoliths of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are seen as living proof of the heroes' actions and their very being.
In martial arts, a kata is a choreographed pattern of movement practiced by a disciple to memorize and perfect martials arts movements. This practice of practicing a routine until it became a refined habit now extends beyond martial arts and into business.
These techniques are particularly helpful when the route to a destination is unclear, as experimentation can help you better understand the problem and find unique solutions.
Each step of the Improvement Kata pattern has simple practice routines, called starter katas, that make the pattern easily actionable and teachable.
Kata and lean are different, yet compliment each other. Kata and Lean are different in many ways. Lean refers to processes to be implemented while kata refers to techniques to be practiced. Thus, kata became a mainstream business practice when Toyota adopted it into its lean production system. When combined into a unified approach, these concepts provide powerful results.
Both kata and lean principles focus on enabling faster progress, but slightly differ in their approaches.Kata is a set of habits that can be deployed at the individual-level and focuses on continual improvement and learning through experimentation. It is useful for tackling problems with uncertainty, while learning and developing skills to repeat the solutions faster and faster. It helps embracing the unknown, and teaches not to fear challenges and obstacles.
Practicing kata establishes a culture of continuous improvement and active employee engagement; it becomes the natural reflex when facing everyday problems. Instills an instinct to seek and pursue process improvements on a daily basis.
Originating in martial arts, "kata" are structured routines consisting of patterns. Whether in martial arts, personal improvement, or business, Kata as we discuss it is a methodology that uses repeated, consistent practice and scientific thinking to train the skills that enable a person to make rapid, incremental improvements every day.
Practicing kata (patterns) consistently and deliberately forms a habit. Forming a habit develops new skills. With new skills comes increased confidence in one's abilities to recognize and make small improvements that keep a person (or a process) in top form continuously.
As simple as it sounds, Kata involves deliberate, repetitive practice to master. In martial arts, kata is choreographed patterns of movement that are practiced until mastery of a single form is achieved. The practice is applied again and again to learn and eventually master each small set of movements.
Kata is a methodology that, with proper training and practice, will develop the habit, the skills, and eventually the culture/mindset of continuous improvement. As such, Kata can work on any service, any sport, and any process. (Hint: Check out the kata example at "Strive Fore Five".)