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Pair Me Up

by: paul | June 14th, 2007 |

I am a better pair than solo developer. For me, software is a collaborative art from the start to the end. Starting from the beginning of a project, where the developers need to collaborate with the customer s and stakeholders of the project to learn about the business domain. Then working with the project manager for sorting priorities and deadlines to make the business goals realizable in the fastest amount of time. Also development is collaboration, via pair programming, to produce a dialog between the developers on their vision of the implementation of this code. The last part, pair programming, is what I would like to focus on.

Having a pair has the traditional advantages of keeping disciplined and sharing the knowledge base. That is a starting point, but pairing is quintessentially important to my process due to the diversity it provides. A diversity of approach and implementation provide me with enough to perform at a highly creative and expressive manner.

Since you are not driving the keyboard and control of the computer, there is more time for contemplating code you wrote and direction you are moving. Most of my good ideas come from the time when someone else is typing. Since I was just working on the practical, I have my head wrapped around the code, and since I am not responsible for typing, I can reflect in the abstract.

I have heard many places that a benefit of test driven development is that the tests force you to design the API of the objects you are using as someone would use them. Well, pair programming, in compliment with programming ping-pong, forces your code to be clean. When you write a test, it isn’t you that makes it pass, so you have to think with expression and intent in mind. So, you end up writing the test FOR your pair. It becomes a form of writing, not just coding.

Sometimes, the test needs to be explained. While explaining something to a pair, your test must hold up your own arguments. Often times when I come to explain something I just wrote, I think of a better way to do it. Explanation is the best form of validating you understand where you are going well.

Also, pairing is how I learned most of my developer personality. Taking bits and pieces of the traits of my pairs through years of pairing. My style is a composite of pairing with various mentors and peers of mine. It has shown me how people approach this craft.

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