
A funny rap song about the pains of pair programming - stdoutrap
Song URL: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=psw9G9Lp7ac" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=psw9G9Lp7ac</a><p>Quick background on the project: I&#x27;m a full time programmer and I love making rap music. I see a lot of humor in the profession&#x2F;industry, and thought it would be fun to combine the two.<p>Here is what I&#x27;m planning on for next steps. I&#x27;m always open to feedback!<p>1. Get something for Patrons (ordered stickers, will probably order mugs as well)<p>2. Paid ad on a popular Twitter account(s)<p>3. Rent a GoPro and shoot a music video for one of the existing songs (if you have any tips on recording, please let me know - I have done some music video editing but don&#x27;t know much about video cameras)
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bitewhite
This reminds me of a rap I wrote a while ago! I hadn't shared it before but
here it goes. It's based on Eminem's 'Lose Yourself':

    
    
      Yo

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There's build errors already, his code is spaghetti

He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready

To start debugging, but he keeps forgettin'

The code he wrote down, has no comments at all

He starts to type, but more build errors are comin' out now

He's choking, how, tabs and spaces are mixing now

The breakpoint runs out, null exception, blaow!

404, oh there goes code quality!

Oh, there goes overflow, he choked

He's so mad, but won't give up that easy? No

He won't have it, he knows this whole repo's a joke

It don't matter,

All that's left is to type in disgrace,

'git rebase'

~~~
koolba
Ha! See if you can work in something like:

 _So he’s got no remorse

git push origin —force_

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__s
So I'll start the HN let's-ignore-the-headline-and-discuss-the-topic-thread

For some reason my boss was mentioning that we should do pair programming
(they don't program). There's only a handful of devs. Nothing really
happening. Personally I prefer asynchronous interaction, so I've been pushing
for code review. But two of my coworkers started pair programming & both
seemed to think it helped work through their issues. I've personally fallen
into what might be called "pair programming" when pairing with a coworker who
doesn't know how to program but knows all the business logic for a task

How are people pair programming? Does it work better when it happens
organically? Does it change how much time you spend printf debugging?

~~~
wild_preference
I interviewed for a week at a consultancy known for pair-programming a long
time ago.

Each workstation had two chairs, a large iMac in the middle, and the
developers had an individual macbook/kb/mouse on each side.

The code was on the middle machine, and either kb/mouse could control it. They
also were using software named Teleport(?) that let you seamlessly interact
with both the main iMac and your own laptop. I don't remember exactly what it
did, maybe let you drag files between the two computers or something.

I got to pair-program with them on assorted real world tasks that week, a
different employee each day. I was generally impressed with the workflow.
There was basically zero downtime in terms of progress. I can easily them
imagining at least getting a 2x productivity boost, but I'd imagine it was
more like 2.5x or more.

Sheepishly, what I didn't like about it was that I'm the kind of person that
likes to get a lot done and then work on my own stuff on the job, or have the
freedom to surf HN when I'm ahead of schedule, and that was kind of impossible
there without your teammate knowing it. :)

But I will say it was very stimulating and fun. The other developers were
really nice and fun to talk to. I work remotely, but I would certainly
consider that arrangement if I were to get a desk job again.

It's better than the sort of office job where you're languishing on your own
and nobody has a firm grasp of what exactly you're even working on in precise
terms. I've been there before and it's incredibly stressful when you fall
behind pace and your work performance starts to suffer. I feel like pair-
programming eliminates that kind of thing.

~~~
BurningFrog
Yeah, the _focus_ and the full 8 hour work days is one of the attractions of
it.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
I did it for two years. I found that it was draining to be focused the full
time every day. I liked the way it worked, I _loved_ the code quality that
came out of it, but I can't do it 8 hours a day month after month.

~~~
BurningFrog
I was _exhausted_ the first month, but... I actually hate myself when I slack
off. I love few things more than getting things _done_ , and pairing provides
me with that euphoria and discipline.

I do fully understand that it's not for everyone!

------
stevekrouse
I love this so much! Musical comedy is a favorite genre of mine, like this[1],
for example.

Re your plan:

1\. I'm dubious this is a top-priority. I'd probably focus on the content for
a while before focusing on swag and other perks. Patrons, especially early
patrons, are there to be supportive. They aren't looking for "things". They
want more of your quality stuff in the world. (This is just my attitude as a
patron. I could be wrong. Are your patrons are clamoring for stuff? Have you
asked them?)

2\. Why not focus on the content and going viral organically? You're already
at the top of HN. Keep doing more things like this and save your money! Have
you seen First Round Capital's holiday videos? They get tens of thousands of
views. I don't see any reason why your videos couldn't organically get a
similar number.

3\. If you have a newer phone, the cameras are pretty solid and probably good
enough for a first video. I've used a DSLR in the past to make a medium-
quality music video. I'd even consider using whatever webcam your computer
comes with and doing something super low-budget to start, such as you simply
saying the lyrics. Another quick improvement idea: instead of a static screen
why not put the lyrics in the video?

[1] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZltTy9T-98](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZltTy9T-98)

~~~
stdoutrap
Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback! You make a lot of solid
points...I'm now re-thinking what would be actually valuable as next steps.

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synthmeat
This is still one of my favorites...

[https://soundcloud.com/marak/marak-the-node-js-
rap](https://soundcloud.com/marak/marak-the-node-js-rap)

Lyrics here

[https://github.com/Marak/node-
raps/blob/master/The%20Node.js...](https://github.com/Marak/node-
raps/blob/master/The%20Node.js%20Rap/lyrics.md)

~~~
_Marak_
Aww, thanks!

Saw this comment and now I'm listening to the back catalog of nerd raps I've
made.

Fun times.

~~~
synthmeat
I smell a rap battle coming...

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mavsman
I love the song. I personally would be much more interested in high quality
lyrics, beat, audio recording, etc than a music video but that's just my
opinion.

Your flow in this song is much better than your "Opinions" song so I'd say
keep working on how you spit, not producing a video.

~~~
inoda
Thank you for the feedback! I keep getting comments that some visuals would go
a long way. I also think it'd be fun to do, so it's pretty tempting. I do
agree that the focus should be on song quality though.

------
sehugg
You need a GoPro for a music video? What, are you going waterskiing or
something :)

I'm no expert, but I'd say just use mobile phone cameras. Go to different
places, have someone (or a tripod) film you lip-syncing the entire song there.
Import all of the clips into a video editor, place your backing audio track
and wiggle around the video clips until they sync up. Cut scenes between the
best bits of each video track. Of course, you need a friend or two to cast as
the other half of the pair programming pair :)

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topnde
Damn your channel is gold. Subscribed. Thanks for sharing.

~~~
inoda
Thank you so much!

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yeukhon
The hell.js is funny as hell. Pair-programming is the worst practice I’ve seen
in my life. The lyrics says so.

------
johnyzee
What's the opposite of a sweet spot? Pain spot? Pair programming has a big
one. Basically whenever you sit with another programmer and try to do initial
design of something while coding it. God that is awful. Don't ever do that.

But it is useful for other purposes. Two people think better than one, when
the solution space is well defined. And you always pick up, or teach, some
good tricks and habits from other people. If you're working on some code that
you wrote yourself, you also learn a lot about how easy it is for others to
understand it.

The pitch for pair programming should _not_ be increased productivity - at
least not directly. Almost everything about the setup means things are slower.
The benefits are in other areas, and are real. That said, the fact that you
are two people means that you are 100% focused and not goofing off and
procrastinating, so in the end you get things done just about as fast as you
would have alone. It's pretty exhausting though, I would not recommend it for
more than a few hours in one day, at most one or two times a week.

Also, cool song :)

~~~
rooam-dev
2 people != 2 devs :) Each dev will have their own solution for the same
problem, which one should they pick? Then you are either a jerk that does not
consider others' ideas or follow blindly other idea and don't get to solve the
problem == no work satisfaction.

I personally don't like it. For me it always felt that I had to justify my
thinking, but many times it's just a gut feeling. Also, the need to explain
what I do is very exhausting, and slowing down my thinking.

------
JCharante
I've never been a fan of rap music, I've actually mostly been repulsed by it,
but after hearing this I think I'm a fan. I guess it was all about what the
songs are about (not a fan of violence).

~~~
krapp
Rap can be as diverse in terms of subject matter and style as any other
musical genre.

If you want some more "nerd" or parody rap here's some MC Frontalot[0] and
Optimus Rhyme[1] that HN might enjoy.

[0][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE)

[1][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTLwiccIOxI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTLwiccIOxI)

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Tade0
I'm getting somewhat of a Jon Lajoie vibe out of this - great work!

------
swanson
Hi, here's an angle: make music/videos to advertise for startup products.
There is a video agency that specializes in making TV commercials for software
products that you could emulate:
[https://sandwichvideo.com/](https://sandwichvideo.com/)

So for this one, find some pair programming/screensharing tool and sell them a
license for the song (or produce a video) as marketing material.

------
jjpe
These rap songs are both funny and ring true. Please make more, and a video
would be cool too :)

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ashaker
Brilliant! This reminds of the Python I heard not too long ago...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UsKYsLSGpU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UsKYsLSGpU)

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antonio-ramadas
This made my day. Great work. Keep it up!

A small suggestion: include the lyrics either in the video itself or as
subtitles. (I know they are in the description, but this way it would be
easier to follow them).

------
ofrzeta
Now that it's Sunday evening here in Europe I took the time to listen to your
pair programming rap (again) and some other songs and wanna say, this is
really gold. Keep it up!

------
pelario
\---

Video unavailable This video is restricted. Try signing in with a Google Apps
account.

\---

I am logged in with my google account, but I'm just learning there are two
kinds of google accounts... wtf google...

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tsumnia
Loved it... but I felt bad for subscribing :D [1]

[1] [https://i.imgur.com/dvKvR2Y.png](https://i.imgur.com/dvKvR2Y.png)

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koopuluri
That made me laugh. Thanks for making this and sharing.

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2pointsomone
Sooo good!!

