Have fun with your build scripts.

This past weekend I have to put together a build script for my latest project.
I have been using Rake with Albacore for some time now in most of my .net projects for several reasons.

One of those reasons is the flexibility that a proper programming language and a good DSL give you.

On Saturday around 1:00 AM I was testing a new step to automate the retrieval of dependencies via NuGet on the build.

As a side note, on Sunday the next day Amir Barylko posted a detailed article on how to doing exactly that.

I was trying to come up with a proper name for the step when I got an idea.

Let’s have some fun with my script.

I usually create a namespace on my rake file and my tasks are defined inside the namespace.

So I decided to give my namespace a persons’ name and use verbs for all my tasks.

That way to run the build instead of typing something boring like:

	rake setup:build

I can do:

	rake girkard:builds

It may also have a positive impact in the team (I will report on that later, or maybe not).
Let’s imagine talking to somebody and say, Giskard is telling my that the integration fails.

Of course, this is nothing new and the guys from Jenkins had the idea long before me, but I still think that is fun.

This can be taken to dangerous extremes, but I guess that if keep between reasonable boundaries there is no damage.

At the end of the day we are already putting Cucumber in our test.
We use a Capybara to drive the browser (although sometimes is a webrat), and we pickler the stories from Pivotal.

Extra geek points for those of you that recognized the name “Giskard” without using Wikipedia :-)