
The Power of Pair Programming Lies on the Execution - fagnerbrack
https://medium.com/@fagnerbrack/the-power-of-pair-programming-lies-on-the-execution-a27938447994
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Annatar
I love pair programming; it is my favorite way to write code. I've been "in
the passenger seat", I've been "in the driver's seat", and in both cases, I
thought it was just great. The person looking over my shoulder could spot bugs
as I was writing them, and I could do the same, so in both cases they would
get squashed before they would even be released.

When I do pair programming, the time to a finished program always seems much
shorter than when I program by myself.

Programming is so much more enjoyable to me when I have someone else to enjoy
it with.

However, it seems to be that most people do not like pair programming. Is that
really the case, and if so, why is that the case?

~~~
shakna
I think it depends on your copilot, and your own programming style.

For example, I find that, when fleshing out an idea, I blackbox a lot. I end
up with five or six stubs, as I work on a core idea, knowing where to go back
to. Then from there, go down over the new code, adding safety once what I have
is a working "template".

When I'm driving, the passenger either a) continually interrupts, breaking my
flow and interrupting the memory-model of the code I have, or b) doesn't say
anything at all, till the end, and it's a major refactor to add in the great
ideas they've had. People have trouble with timing, though that might be
because a lot of my team find me intimidating.

When I'm a copilot, I do struggle to know when to change the direction, but
the biggest issue is that people... Like to "own" their code. Its a personal
insult to point out flaws, or to suggest a new way to do something.

In other words, a lot of what the article talks about has been my experience,
and some people can't adapt to it.

