Collaborative-Adversarial Pair Programming

Rajendran Swamidurai,David A Umphress

doi:10.5402/2012/516184

Rajendran Swamidurai, David A Umphress

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/516184

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Abstract

This paper presents a study called collaborative-adversarial pair (CAP) programming which is an alternative to pair programming (PP). Its objective is to exploit the advantages of pair programming while at the same time downplaying its disadvantages. Unlike traditional pairs, where two people work together in all the phases of software development, CAPs start by designing together; splitting into independent test construction and code implementation roles; then joining again for testing. An empirical study was conducted in fall 2008 and in spring 2009 with twenty-six computer science and software engineering senior and graduate students at Auburn University. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups (CAP/experimental group and PP/control group). The subjects used Eclipse and JUnit to perform three programming tasks with different degrees of complexity. The results of this experiment point in favor of CAP development methodology and do not support the claim that pair programming in general reduces the software development duration, overall software development cost or increases the program quality or correctness.

Highlights

One of the popular, emerging, and most controversial topics in the area of software engineering in the recent years is pair programming
This paper presents a study called the collaborativeadversarial pair (CAP) programming which is an alternative to pair programming
We experimented with a new agile software development methodology called collaborative-adversarial pair programming

Summary

Introduction

One of the popular, emerging, and most controversial topics in the area of software engineering in the recent years is pair programming. Pair programming (PP) is a way of inspecting code as it is being written. The history of pair programming stretches back to punched cards, it emerged as a viable approach to software development in the early 1990s when it was noted as one of the 12 key practices promoted by extreme programming (XP) [1]. Industry and academia have turned their attention and interest toward pair programming [2, 3], and it has been widely accepted as an alternative to traditional individual programming [4]

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