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Introverted programmers have always coded with other people, communicating through emails, code reviews, bug hunts, source control comments, phone calls, brains
by michaelwww 13y ago
Introverted programmers have always coded with other people, communicating through emails, code reviews, bug hunts, source control comments, phone calls, brainstorming and planning sessions. "Pair programming" seems to be a modern fetish to get wallflowers to dance together in hopes they'll both write better code. It's awkward for the introverted. Brain power that should be going towards code is siphoned off into social interaction. Coding is an inherently creative act, unless you're just stamping out boilerplate code at the software factory, in which case pairing makes sense.
- couchand 13y agoIn a good pairing session, you are almost unaware that there's any social interaction going on. You and your pair are both in the zone, applying more than double the brainpower to the problem. The old saying is true, two heads are better than one. The only reason it's not effective with more than two is that the realtime communication breaks down.
- michaelwww 13y agoSo you're saying that by pairing Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds in the same cube we'd get amazing software?
- memracom 13y agoPeople talk a lot about pair programming, but when have you ever read about how to do it. What are the mechanics of it? What should a member of a pair do or not do? I suspect that a lot of the problem with pair programming boils down to people who don't know how to do it that end up creating a bad social interaction and offending their partner.