The author tries really hard to suggest that when you work on a "code kata" you will not improve.
But there is no drill instructor yelling: "GIVE ME 100 CRUD-WEB APPS, RIGHT NOW!"
"code kata" is just a fancy name for a computational problem that has limited scope but still provides lots of room for creativity.
tl;dr: "code katas" were never intended to be mindlessly repeated but to deliberately think about what can be faster, better, more elegant, expressive (name you favorite)
I believe martial katas were invented as a means for one teacher to teach lots and lots of students at the same time. Like a lot of things of oriental origin, they tend to get romanticized in the west.
"code kata" is just a fancy name for a computational problem that has limited scope but still provides lots of room for creativity.
Just like a the questions on https://projecteuler.net/ but with a lesser focus on number theory.
tl;dr: "code katas" were never intended to be mindlessly repeated but to deliberately think about what can be faster, better, more elegant, expressive (name you favorite)
see: http://codekata.pragprog.com/codekata/2007/01/code_katahow_i...