Uncharted Territories — Part II

By Piispa & Vissy, Software DevelopersFeb 14, 2019Read time 4 min
Piispa & Vissy

This is part II of our “Pair Programming — Uncharted Territories” blog posts. See also Part I.

Developers tend to use pair programming quite occasionally, which is understandable in a way. If the chemistry between peers is not at that good level, pair programming might not be necessarily an investment worth doing. According to our experience, however, pair programming can be tuned up to a level at which efficiency and happiness surpass clearly two lone individual programmers. In what follows, different levels of pair programming are listed and analyzed.

1. Basic Freemium Edition

A typical form of pair programming in which two random dudes try to get along with each other and solve a problem together is called _Basic Freemium Edition_. In other words, this is the no-frills model of pair programming.

In Basic Freemium Edition, pair programming is often considered a pedagogic tool used when there is a problem that someone is not able to solve himself/herself. However, we believe that pair programming can be thought of as a tool that is used constantly for producing value for customer efficiently.

2. Battlecruiser X Robot Hand

In Battlecruiser X Robot Hand (BxR) pair programming, there are two clear roles for the peers. Battlecruiser functions as the primary operator/programmer and Robot Hand as her adjutant who is capable of doing rapid, small tasks initiated by Battlecruiser. Meanwhile, Battlecruiser can continue on her primary task and can then pull Robot Hand’s contributions at a suitable moment.

BxR concept is not only about Battlecruiser giving small tasks to Robot Hand. It is also about becoming continuously aware of the current problem, big picture and hindrances and aiming for a very good flow by optimizing communication and mutual practices.

To practice BxR successfully, it requires not only seamless chemistry between programmers but also similar understanding about programming philosophy and best practices at different levels of software development. You do not have time to argue all the time about semicolons, commit message formats or sufficient test coverage.

3. Battlecruiser X Robot Hand Remote Warp Speed Edition

BxR Remote Warp Speed Edition is like BxR on steroids. First of all, in BxRHRWSE the IDEs of both Battlecruiser and Robot Hand are connected with a live coding plugin which enables a file to be edited simultaneously by both programmers.

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Secondly, for BxRHRWSE, good chemistry is not enough. In addition, there must be at least a small amount of telepathic abilities between the peers.

When Battlecruiser writes code, she should not normally have to say what she is going to do or what she might need; Robot Hand has to sense Battlecruiser’s intentions so well that she can augment Battlecruiser’s work real-time — they may even edit a same line of code simultaneously and seamlessly. Both work so intensively that there is no room for all kinds of hassle. This also helps both programmers to avoid causing unnecessary context switches to each other.

However, using BxRHRWSE does not imply that both peers should write code all the time; only when it feels useful and natural. The main goal is to achieve a top-tier mutual flow and embody it into a programming two-node hivemind.

Whereas Basic Freemium Edition can be considered as single-thread programming, BxRHRWSE often proceeds with two highly utilized threads. In Basic Freemium Edition, one of the peers has often various needs, like suggesting a change or obtaining some information from some file but cannot do those because the only thread is blocked. The options are to either wait or cause an interruption and a context switch. BxRHRWSE, in turn, makes it possible for you to do your task without choosing any of the aforementioned.

Uncharted Territories

Finally, pair programming is not a silver bullet, of course, but if you have a really good coding pal, you might want to try how much you are able to level up your pair programming. It is also possible that even if there is some guy that does not feel like your type, by pair programming you might find new aspects about each other and end up being good friends. Like us.

Read Pair Programming — Uncharted Territories Part I.