[ale] [OT] Pair programming vs. telecommuting (was: Filesystem Architect)

Geoffrey esoteric at 3times25.net
Thu Jul 25 19:49:37 EDT 2002


This all sounds just like something I've seen done years ago and still 
goes on now.  They just decided to give it a fancy name.  I've often sat 
down with two or three folks looking over my shoulder, or been one of 
the shoulder surfers whilst someone else drove the keyboard.  I've seen 
many a break through this way, but I don't see it as something that 
would useful on a regular basis.  Interesting thing is, I've always 
found the juices really get flowing and you can get a real high in that 
kind of environment.  I can recall such a situation about 9 years ago. 
There were three of us.  Folks across the way came into the cube 
thinking we were watching some game (basketball or soccer) because they 
kept hearing guys in the cube screaming things like 'YES', 'do it dude', 
'we got it!'.  Seriously it was great fun and pretty hardcore, back then 
anyway.

Still, I'll still lay claim this can be done with two folks who aren't 
in the same room or location.  DSL connectivity is sufficient bandwidth.

Fulton Green wrote:
> I told Geoffrey I'd take this offline, but I guess some other ppl have an
> interest, so ...
> 
> The way I've always imagined pair programming is two programmers sharing
> one physical keyboard, typically sitting down at the same workstation. But
> it sounds as if some others have been able to make it work from farther
> distances. Michael Hirsch is correct that it's been around for awhile, and
> it's just now getting into most developers' pysches due to its association
> with the XP paradigm. So there goes that part of my argument. :)
> 
> BTW, for Geoffrey's question as to the efficiency of two ppl. at the same
> kbd., the basic idea of pair pgmg. is the classic "two heads are better
> than one". The person pumping away at the keyboard focuses on the immediate
> coding task at hand, while the observing half of the pair watches out for
> any possible code glitches and also thinks about the ramifications outside
> the immediate scope of the code. Plus it makes sure that no one goofs off
> (unless, of course, both halves of the pair want to ;-).
> 
> Perhaps another question to ask would be if one could pull off the entire XP
> paradigm when you have between, say, 9 and 12 developers in disparate
> locations all working on the same project. Both my XP experiences have been
> in large rooms specifically geared to ensuring all developers can
> communicate with each other all at once, with no cubicle dividers or other
> walls within the same room.
> 
> <plug>If you'd like to find out more about (!Windows) XP, check out
> http://XP.ThatAtlantaSite.com/ .</plug>
> 
> On Thu, Jul 25, 2002 at 03:56:17PM -0400, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> 
>>Not necessarily.  Pair programming comes down to two programmers
>>contributing to the coding process (usually the same section of code) at
>>once.  They can be at two separate machines and might in fact prefer to
>>be if frequent reference to language docs or devel specs is required. 
>>I'd be quite certain that there are ways to accomplish a
>>pair-programming operation at a distance.
>>
> 
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-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

I didn't have to buy my radio from a specific company to listen
to FM, why doesn't that apply to the Internet (anymore...)?


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