Abstract
The drawback of pair programming is the nearly doubled personnel cost.
The extra cost of pair programming originates from the strict rule
of extreme programming where every line of code should be developed
by a pair of developers.
Is this rule not a waste of resources?
Is it not possible to gain a large portion of the benefits of pair
programming by only a small fraction of the meeting time of a pair
programming session?
We conducted a preliminary study to answer this question by
splitting the pair programming process into a pair design and a pair
implementation phase.
The pair implementation phase is compared to a solo implementation
phase which in turn was preceeded by a pair design phase, as well.
The study is preliminary as its major goal was to identify an
appropriate sample size for subsequent experiments.
The data from this study suggest that there is no difference in terms of
development cost between a pair and a solo implementation phase if
the cost for developing programs of similar level of correctness is
concerned.
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