In this, the fourth post in my series on software craftsmanship, I interpret Wikipedia: Craft in the context of software development. I’m doing this because Ade Oshineye: Software Craftsmanship – More than just a manifesto
recommended the wikipedia definition of craft although Ade generally avoids dictionary style definitions for software craftsmanship (Hoover and Oshineye, 2009).
Wikipedia Definition of Craft
Wikipedia: Craft offers a general definition of a "craft":
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier the term is usually applied towards people in small-scale production of goods.
It follows from this definition that a craftsman is somebody who does skilled work, probably in small-scale production. Thus software craftsmanship would be skilled software development in small-scale production.
What I make of it
"Skilled" is good; I like "Skilled". But I’m slightly wary of the "small-scale" bit because something that is focussed on small scale production is of limited value to the software industry.
In subsequent posts I’ll look at other definitions of software craftsmanship.
Hoover, D. & Oshineye, A. (2009). Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman. O’Reilly. [Available on-line http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596518387/]