Chapter 6: Pair Programming (Dear Uncle Joe, My Pair Programmer Has Halitosis)

Overview

Your Pair Will Hold Your Hand

(Sing to the tune of I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles)

When you re coding something
That you don t understand

You don t
Have to worry

Your pair will hold your hand
Your pair will hold your hand
Your pair will hold your hand

And when you re coding you feel happy inside
The joy of coding is just one you can t hide

People say We need requirements
They always make a fuss
We think
That requirements
Should be in C Plus Plus
Should be in C Plus Plus

And when you re coding you feel happy inside
The joy of coding is just one you can t hide

When you re unit testing
And you find a bug
You don t have to feel bad
Your pair will give you a hug

Your pair will give you a hug
And when you re coding you feel happy inside
The joy of coding is just one you can t hide

Karl Marx  

The only constraint that XP puts on you is that any production code has be [sic] written by a pair. Your preferences and comfort do not supercede the delivery of quality to the project, or your parcitipation [sic] in the team . ^[1]
”Robert C. Martin

VoXP

In reality, it fosters a stinky noisy room and a headache . ^[2]
”Anonymous XPer

 

GROUCHO  

I think maybe concentration is the enemy. Seriously. If you re working on something that is so complex that you actually need to concentrate, there s too much chance that it s too hard. ^[3]
”Ron Jeffries

Pair programming is one of the most controversial aspects of XP, and it presents some of the most amusing scenarios, some of which have even appeared in the Dilbert comic strip. ^[4] In this chapter we examine some of the claims that have been made about this practice, including those from Laurie Williams book Pair Programming Illuminated . We also share with you some eye-opening real-world eXPeriences from our correspondents in the field.

^[1] Robert C. Martin posting to the newsgroup comp.object, subject: Pair Programming ”Yuck! October 28, 2001.

^[2] Anonymous XPer, see the Voice of eXPerience: Tales from the Front Line sidebar in Chapter 4.

^[3] Ron Jeffries, posting to the C2 Wiki page Pair Programming Ergonomics, http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?PairProgrammingErgonomics .

^[4] See http://www.dilbert.com .