An Empirical Study on Factors related to Distributed Pair Programming

Abstract

This paper reports students’ perceptions and experiences attending an object-oriented programming course in which they developed software using the Distributed Pair Programming (DPP) technique. Pair programming (PP) is typically performed on one computer, involving two programmers working collaboratively on the same code or algorithm. DPP on the other hand is performed remotely allowing programmers to collaborate from separate locations. PP started in the software industry as a powerful way to train programmers and to improve software quality. Research has shown that PP (and DPP) is also a successful approach to teach programming in academic programming courses. The main focus of PP and DPP research was PP’s effectiveness with respect to student performance and code quality, the investigation of best team formation strategies and studies of students’ attitudes. There are still limited studies concerning relationships between performance, attitudes and other critical factors. We have selected some of the most common factors which can be found in the literature: academic performance, programming experience, student confidence, feelgood factor, partner compatibility and implementation time. The main goal of this study was to investigate correlations between these attributes, while DPP was used as the main programming technique.

From Collaboration to Solitude and Back: Remote Pair Programming During COVID-19

“…We also found how this changed over time. Our findings support the earlier research emphasizing the importance of and consensus over good tools for RPP [19,20]. Concerning RPP benefits, our study confirms that engineers pair program because they enjoy it [3], especially as an important mean for socialization while WFH, which goes beyond RPP for quality and efficacy [11] and is not much discussed in the existing literature.…”

“…In colocated PP, you work on the same code and frequently switch roles. In a distributed setting you need technology to support this [19]. Further, pairs also need to make voice and video calls and share screens during the coding activity.…”

“…Therefore, having the right tools accepted by all team members is a success criterion for RPP to work, along with a list of important functions. The main requirements are [7,19,20] that pairs must be able to: 1) access, edit and synchronize the same files, 2) coordinate and fulfill the driver and observer roles, 3) point to different parts of the code, 4) know about the presence of their partner (text or video).…”

Adoption of Visual Programming Environments in Programming Learning

“…Besides, social interactions lead to the students' reliance on sources other than the teachers instead of perceiving the teachers as the only source for acquiring skills and seeking suggestions, which reduces the tutors' work burden. Hsu et al [38] and Tsompanoudi et al [39] found that encouraging students to pair in a programming course was more effective for students engaging in high-level languages, leading to a higher percentage of students completing the course. Similarly, the distinctions between the learners who work "solo" and those working in pairs were made in a 2018 paper, contributing to the conclusion that programming knowledge, collaboration, and technical skills were further improved with a partnership [40].…”

Construindo “novos” caminhos para o ensino de programação por meio do uso de metodologias ativas de aprendizagem e teoria da carga cognitiva

“…Especificamente no contexto da programação pode-se observar uma metodologia de ensino, com características muito semelhantes a instrução por pares, essa metodologia é a Programação Em Pares, ou em inglês Pair-Programming (TSOMPANOUDI et al, 2019). …”