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Title: Design’s a Joke
Proposer: chris_simons
Type: Interactive Workshop
Duration: 90 minutes
Description:
Christmas Cracker jokes are corny but fun. But I heard a different take on Christmas Cracker jokes on
a local radio station phone-in last year. Instead of asking the Christmas Cracker question, the
contestant is given the punch-line, and they have to guess the build-up question. It’s great fun, not
least because, of course, there are many possible build-up questions. Afterwards, I began to think:
isn’t this like software design? The designer is given the requirements (the punch line), has to come
up with a design (the build-up) and then has to evaluate the design (finding the best among the
possibilities). So design’s a joke, because you’re given the punch line of the joke, yet you have to
think up a design. This simple idea tells us a great deal about how we design and develop software.
Attendees take away two learning outcomes: (1) design and development is all about generating
possibilities and evaluating them, and (2) this can be supported by evolutionary computing.
Minutes 1 – 15: Welcome and Introduction, the attendees play the game “Reverse Christmas Cracker
Joke” competing in small groups for the best build-up lines.
Minutes 15 - 30: Discussion – where did the possibilities come from? What is the space of
possibilities? How is this relevant to software design and development? Discussion in groups,
spokesperson presents findings.
Minutes 30 – 45: Discussion – how do we evaluate? How do we know when a possibility is good?
How is this relevant to software design and development? Discussion in groups, spokesperson
presents findings.
Minutes 45 – 60: Presentation – how ‘generate and evaluate’ leads to software ‘evolution’. How this
evolution can be simulated computationally as searching a space of design and code possibilities.