Garrett Honeycutt talks with SeaGL about Test Driven Development:

Q: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background?

I’ve been hacking *nix based systems and spreading the word about free software for over fifteen years. Previously I’ve worked on such things as building core internet infrastructure at Speakeasy, creating mobile media distribution platforms and as a professional services engineer with Puppet Labs. At my company, LearnPuppet.com, I consult and teach people around the world about automation with Puppet and DevOps processes. At Transforia, I am co-founder and CTO where we lease fully managed, secure, GNU/Linux based laptops and desktops. Besides submitting patches, I give back to the community by speaking at user groups, conferences and co-organizing FOSSETCON in Orlando.

Q: Without tipping your hand on the actual talk, can you give us an idea of what we might expect?

Developers have long been using Test Driven Development (TDD) for building applications. Now that SysAdmins are treating their infrastructure as software, we must look to best practices in development. This talk will explain how to implement TDD and gain confidence through testing for system administrators.

Q: Is this your first visit to SeaGL? If so, what are your expectations? If not, can you give us your impressions of the event?

I had the good fortune to speak last year with the talk “Intro to Puppet and Why Configuration Management is Important”. I enjoy the atmosphere of the conference taking place inside a school and the exceptionally high quality of the other speakers.