Pair programming as a strategy to learn how to program?
03 October 2013
Every time somebody asks a question on a title you bet the answer will be yes. But here the answer is maybe, but I really don't know. I recently read an excellent post on pair programming, which is one of the pillars behind XP (eXtreme Programming). It is interesting that a few years ago there was almost a taboo talking about remote pair programming, for example with two programmers working together through a screen sharing app. But now it seems like the remote pair programming has gone mainstream, which I find pretty interesting.
But one topic that I have not seen addressed and that I haven't tried myself is whether pair programming could be used so that one of the parties could learn how to program. When I say learn I don't mean to take one person who knows absolutely nothing about programming as that will likely slow down the main programmer. But if the learner knows how to program in another language then she can provide some insights without necessarily know the syntax. Although as I said I haven't tried it, the key for this to work is for the learner to have the sensibility not to get in the way of the main programmer, otherwise productivity will go down.
Perhaps something to be tested ...
by Ricardo Pietrobon
About Me
My name is Ricardo Pietrobon and I am interested in big data and situated cognition applied to immersive distance education.
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