The effects of "pair-pressure" and "pair-learning" on software engineering education

Anecdotal evidence from several sources, primarily in industry, indicates that two programmers working collaboratively on the same design, algorithm, code, or test perform substantially better than the two would working alone. In this technique, often called "pair programming" or "collaborative programming", one person is the "driver" and has control of the pencil/mouse/keyboard and is writing the design or code. The other person continuously and actively observes the work of the driver-watching for defects, thinking of alternatives, looking up resources, and considering strategic implications of the work at hand. A course in Web programming was taught at the University of Utah in Summer Semester 1999. In this course, the students worked in pairs, continuously collaborating on all programming assignments. Using the technique, the students applied a positive form of "pair-pressure" on each other, which proved beneficial to the quality of their work products. The students also benefited from "pair-learning", which allowed them to learn new languages faster and better than they had experienced with solitary learning. "Pair-learning" also reduced the workload of the teaching because the students no longer relied primarily on them for technical support and advise.