Pair Programming Evaluation in an Academic Environment

Abstract

Agile methods particularly eXtreme programming (XP) and Scrum play an important role in software development. Software development companies and individual programmers have been increasingly adopting XP and Scrum methodology as a best choice for the development of application software. XP consists of many practices, among them pair programming is a key practice. A research study on pair programming has been conducted in the laboratory of the university. Three simple tasks have been given to 75 students from same age group. These participants were distributed in 30 pairing group (60 students) and remaining 15 students participated as solo programmer. During 6 pairing sessions we have critically analyzed all pairing and solo participants. We have found that a less number of compilation errors were done by pairing groups than solo programmers. The pairing groups have completed their tasks before solo programmers by taking less time. We have also analyzed that driver and navigator frequently switch their role, and switching role is mostly initiated by driver. Overall, pair programming practice was liked by pairing groups