What is pair programming?

In pair programming, two people work together to develop a single computer program. One of the programmers is called the driver and sits at the keyboard. The other programmer is called the navigator and sits next to the driver where she can see the screen clearly. The programmers change roles regularly - a good rule of thumb is every 20 to 30 minutes.

The navigator is responsible for watching the driver. The navigator notes mistakes that the driver is making (for example, forgetting to enter the ';' at the end of a line), as well as assists in designing the code, making suggestions for improvement, and asking questions if the driver seems to be getting off-course.

Pair Programming in this class

In this class, when you sit down to work on one of the programming assignments, you must be working with your partner at one computer ( or connected to a shared screen using Brian Hanks' distributed pair programming tool). One of you will sit at the keyboard while the other observes. This does not mean that one of you is doing all the work

While you are pairing, you should be talking to each other about what you are doing. Both partners should be actively involved.

Remember to trade roles regularly.

The following are not pair programming:

Splitting the work in half, where each person does part of the work.
Working at separate times.
One person doing all of the work, but turning it in with both partner's names.

Instances of the above will be considered as cheating in this class, and will be treated as such. Instances of academic dishonesty or cheating will be taken seriously.

If this is your first use of pair programming please read All I Needed To Know About Pair Programmming I Learned in Kindergarten.

Choosing a Parnter

You are free to work with anyone in the class you wish. Research shows that the best pairs are those in which the partners have roughly equal programming skills. Try to choose a partner that you think has about the same experience and skill at programming as you do.

You must send email to Charlie McDowell at least 10 days before an assignment is due if you wish to work with a partner on that assignment. PLEASE include "cmps109 partner" in the subject of the email message. In the body of the message, list your partner's name. We will assume you are continuing to work with that same partner unless notified otherwise.

If for some reason you can no longer work with your partner again you must email Charlie McDowell. If you stop working with a partner after starting work on an assignment, then you must clearly identify in the comments of your program which parts were developed in cooperation with your partner prior to the break-up. Failure to properly identify jointly developed sections is a violation of the academic honesty.

Sharing a directory with your partner

To share a directory with your partner do the following.

Make a directory (e.g. mkdir 109).
Execute the command: fs sa 109 partnersLogin read

That will let your partner read the files in that directory. If you are also letting your partner modify (this includes deleting) the files in that directory, then replace the "read" in the command with "write".