REPLs All The Way Up: A Rubric For Virtuous Feedback Loops — Avdi Grimm & Jessica Kerr

We all know that the key to successful software development is iteration and feedback loops, whether that takes the form of the red-green-refactor cycle, or agile project planning. But not all feedback is equally valuable. How do you know if you’re poised to spin gold or just spin in circles?

We propose a novel archetype for virtuous feedback cycles: the humble Read-Eval-Print-Loop (REPL). We’ll talk about the history of REPLs and how they revolutionized early programming environments. We’ll examine the evolution of iterative feedback in software development processes, through the lens of “REPL nature”. We’ll talk about “scientific” processes, and why the proverbial theory/experiment cycle is not sufficient for good science or graceful software development.

Finally, we’ll explore what makes for better feedback loops at every level of the software process, from building algorithms up to business intelligence. You’ll leave with a new rubric for evaluating and improving the iterative circles you work in every day.

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About Jessica Kerr
Jessica Kerr is a symmathecist, in the medium of code. She believes in learning systems made of learning parts: enthusiastic people and evolving software. She is a Principal Developer Advocate at Honeycomb.io, where she teaches developers to make their software teach them what’s going on inside. In twenty years of professional software development, she has programmed in and spoken at conferences about Java, Scala, Clojure, TypeScript, Ruby, and Elm. She lives in St. Louis, MO with two children who invent worlds and draw characters with superpowers, and two cats who meow and knock over water glasses.

About Avdi Grimm
In the course of over twenty years of software development, Avdi has worked on everything from aerospace embedded systems to enterprise web applications. He’s a consulting pair-programmer, the author of several popular Ruby programming books, and a recipient of the Ruby Hero award. These days he invests his time helping other developers grow their programming practice at Graceful.Dev.

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About the Conference
The Philly Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise (ETE) is the Mid-Atlantic's premier developer's conference. Entering its 17th year, we've brought world-class speakers — including some local favorites — to speak about leading-edge technologies being used today, and emerging technologies that will be important for attendees to know about in the near future.

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About the Host
Philly ETE is hosted by Chariot Solutions, a software development consultancy.
For over 20 years, companies of all sizes and industries have
looked to Chariot as a partner to help them solve their toughest software challenges, and move their business forward.

Are you a business looking to build and manage software solutions optimized for your unique needs? We're here to help. We’ll apply our strategic, high-touch approach and extensive tech experience to solve your most complex business problems. Reach out today. Visit us at https://chariotsolutions.com/

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Sponsored by Pinnacle 21
Employees at Pinnacle 21 do tech work that means something. Their software enables key transitions in the clinical trial data pipeline and streamlines regulatory approvals for drugs and medical devices, getting new treatments to patients faster. Pinnacle 21 supplies its SaaS platform to the US FDA, Japan’s PMDA, 24 of the top 25 biopharma firms, and many more biotechs. It ensures clinical trial data comply with the standards of both government agencies and trial sponsors. On its way from the clinic to a government agency, a data point goes through many steps, and Pinnacle 21 has processed over 30 trillion (with a T!) of them. With strong product-market fit and an aggressive roadmap fueled by their 2021 acquisition by Certara (NASDAQ: CERT), the team is quickly becoming the one-stop data brokerage for the life sciences. Learn more: https://pinnacle21.com

Sponsored by Lutron
Lutron is the worldwide leader in lighting, automated shade and temperature controls, with headquarters in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and engineering offices in Philadelphia, Boston, South Florida and Austin. We are a privately held manufacturing company with over 4000 design and product patents. We are at the forefront of innovating IoT products for smart homes and connected buildings. We provide solutions for residences that span from 500 sq. ft apartments to 10,000 sq. ft homes and commercial solutions for small office spaces to entire building complexes such as the New York Times Building, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Empire State Building and the Guggenheim Museum. Learn more: https://www.lutron.com/en-US/pages/de...