[wp-hackers] Distributed Pairprogramming for Wordpress development?

[Eike Starkmann]

Otto wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Eike Starkmann
> <eike.starkmann at fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>> Saros is an Eclipse plugin for collaborative text editing and distributed
>> pair programming, i.e. it allows two or more developers to work together in
>> real-time on the same files.
> 
> Speaking as somebody who's been coding professionally for 10 years, I
> couldn't let this go by...
> 
> I've had to do this sort of thing before (not distributed, but pair
> programming). It is, by far, the worst idea ever conceived by
> man(agers). I would rip my own arm off and beat myself to death with
> it before I'd ever do this sort of thing again.
> 
Perhaps you made some bad experiences, with pair programming and it is
good that you share it, but there are a lot of people who have made
different experiences and find it very useful.
> The theory of pair programming is that you have two developers working
> on the same piece of code, able to notice and correct mistakes.
> 
> The reality of pair programming is that one guy is better than the
> other guy, and spends half his time explaining the problem and
> solution to the other guy, instead of simply coding the damn thing.
> The lesser of the two programmers only drags the other guy down to his
> level, and wastes both of their time.
> 
Yes that can happen, but did you ever thought of the knowledge transfer
that happens in this situation. I think there is no better way for
training a newcomer than putting him together with a skilled developer
explaining him while working how everything works. By the way are there
such big differences in the wordpress core team?
> The only way that pair programming works is if both programmers are a)
> equally skilled and b) not particularly skilled. In other words, for
> newbs fresh out of college, it works fine. For a seasoned programmer,
> the very notion is a valid reason to look for a job elsewhere.
> 
> In general, it's a horrible practice, and anybody actively using it is
> an idiot. IMO, of course.
>
Of course a programmer who doesn't want to explain what he does and
prefers work alone will not like pair programming.
> Also, peer review is highly overrated as well, for other reasons.
> People who actively write good code don't need it, and people who
> don't write good code shouldn't be put in the position of writing code
> in the first place.
> 
That's also one think you can learn while working together with a
skilled programmer, although I don't believe that good code is always
bugfree, everybody makes mistakes.

Al least, I just wanted to find out, if such a tool like Saros can
improve/be useful for open source software development. There are lost
of scopes behind just doing pair programming, for example reviewing
security patches.

Greets, Eike

-- 
Eike Starkmann
This message is part of my Master thesis research. Feel free to contact
my advisors in case of inappropriate behavior on my side:
christopher.oezbek at fu-berlin.de and stephan.salinger at fu-berlin.de