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Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

pivotallabs.com

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Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#2
I like it.

For a while, we had a couple people who really liked pair programming at work. Our desks really, really weren't fit for that. They went through a lot of things and finally settled on 1 person having the work computer, and the second remoting into it. They would sit at their own desks, which were close enough to talk, if loudly.

Other than a few latency issues, it seemed to work pretty well for them.

This setup, though, would have been MUCH preferred.

As for the cost of the second monitor... Most non-pair places buy 2 computers AND 2 monitors... Our stations at work even have 2 monitors per computer, with only 1 developer at it.

I think the cost of the second monitor is a very small price to pay for efficiency.

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#4

Has anyone ever tried pair programming with a collaborative editor? EG: gobby.

I've not tried pair programming using collaborative editor but I've done sessions of requirements gathering with teams using EtherPad (I guess now it would be Google Docs given Etherpad was rolled into Google Docs).

It's fun and almost LAN game like in terms of having everyone create stub items, then others go in and fill them out, then someone else goes in and further adds to that given item, etc etc.

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#5
post #4

Has anyone ever tried pair programming with a collaborative editor? EG: gobby.

I've not tried pair programming using collaborative editor but I've done sessions of requirements gathering with teams using EtherPad (I guess now it would be Google Docs given Etherpad was rolled into Google Docs). It's fun and almost LAN game like in terms of having everyone create stub items, then others go in and fill them out, then someone else goes in and further adds to that given item, etc etc.

I can't describe how helpful this is for some of the open source projects that I contribute too. Sometimes it's hard enough getting folks to review patches, etc, but getting people to write docs is like pulling teeth at times. This makes it way easier to tweet or announce in IRC that a doc is being edited and in no time you can have 4-5 people working on it and it's finished in a fraction of the time.

BTW, Etherpad was released as an open source project (https://github.com/ether/pad seems to be where the development lives) as part of the acquisition and there are tons of clones out there if you still want to use something simply with no sign-in, etc.

Check out: http://piratepad.net/ep/search or http://typewith.me/

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#7
post #6

Has anyone ever tried pair programming with a collaborative editor? EG: gobby.

Good question. In general, what happens to this setup when two programmers use different editors, say vim/Emacs/TextMate?

It sucks. I just started a new job with lots of pair programming and all vim users. Struggle.

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#8

Has anyone ever tried pair programming with a collaborative editor? EG: gobby.

javery and I basically pair program during our TekPub recordings, using SharedView and Skype. The hosting SharedView user has asymmetrically better control of the editor, but it still works out great for us.

Not quite the same as a collaborative editor, but similar.

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#9

Has anyone ever tried pair programming with a collaborative editor? EG: gobby.

I've used SubEthaEdit for pair programming in the past, and it was very successful and awesome. I was hosting it as such I was not aware of any latency, but my partner never really complained about it.

It also provided both of us with the ability to see the others changes.

Re: Mirrored display face-to-face pair programming setup

#10
Seems like the tables don't need to be so deep, which would help use less space. Maybe not, though,

I do something similar when I'm pairing, but we just sit on opposite sides of a conference room table. The offset is key so you're not constantly leaning over to see the other person.

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