Carpentry

Overview

Carpentry is the branch of construction concerned with the cutting, shaping, and assembly of wood. It is divided into rough carpentry (see framing) and finish carpentry, which is the part clients look at and form opinions about.

Burbridge learned carpentry before writing code, and the relationship between the two — the precision, the tolerance budgets, the feeling of an unsquare corner — is central to the Aggressive Craftsmanship worldview.

Two Kinds of Carpenter

There are, traditionally, two kinds of carpenters:

• Rough carpenters — build the frame. Invisible once the walls are up. The wall stands because of them.
• Finish carpenters — build the trim, the cabinets, the doors. Visible forever. The wall looks finished because of them.

Burbridge is, by reputation, both. This is considered unusual. Most carpenters specialize. The Council has noted that Burbridge "appears to treat the distinction as a preference, rather than an identity."

Principles

The profession has accumulated principles, most of which apply to software without modification:

• Scribe to the wall, not the wall to the plan. The wall doesn't care what the plan said.
• Pre-drill or apologize later.
• The wood moves. Account for it.
• If you can see the nail head, you're done too early.
• Sand with the grain. The grain is the grain. Do not fight it.