Adventures in Pair Programming

added by pwammann

9/5/2011 7:26:43 AM

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Pair programming is a great way of increasing developer moral, productivity, skill, and product quality if it is done correctly. I have been lucky enough to have experienced pair or extreme programming for nearly a year, being paired up with several other developers over that time frame. I am practically a veteran given its very small adoption rate as of 6/8/2011 (I have heard estimates as high as 3% of Agile shops) and that those that have adopted it do so only part time on select projects. My experience tells me that the Wikipedia article on the subject is largely correct.

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3 comments

dpeterson

9/6/2011 9:42:39 AM

Perhaps I've misinterpreted your article, but it seems that what you are talking about is not pair programming. The drivers job is not to simply type what the navigator is telling them to type. The driver is supposed to be writing code, the navigators job is to REVIEW that code. The idea behind pair programming is that two sets of eyes review each line of code typed, simply echoing instructions to the driver as if he/she were some sort of trained monkey is no better than individual programming, and most likely slower.
So, hopefully, I just misinterpreted what you said, but "To avoid confusion one pair will typically be the Navigator (observer) that is doing the primary directing of the Driver who is typing. Thus allowing the Navigator to focus on the task at hand without being distracted by the physical chores. " does not sound like pair programming to me.

pwammann

9/6/2011 12:06:16 PM

I think you are reading into it to much but I will update what I wrote so it is clearer. The article is not an instruction on how to do Pair Programming just about my experiences with it.

dpeterson

9/6/2011 12:58:06 PM

Thanks for the clarification, I'm glad to know I was reading too much into it. Sorry if my comment sounded overly critical.