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by gruseom 6438 days ago
I like pair programming. It's not stupid - it's counterintuitive, and like any counterintuitive idea is vulnerable to snap dismissal, as your comment appears to exemplify.

Anyone who's ever spent hours going down a rabbit hole that in retrospect was an obvious mistake may have a conception of why it's not necessarily a waste of resources. That, and anyone who realizes that programming isn't straightforward and he may not have all the best ideas about how to do something.

It's too bad that the discourse around pair programming is dominated by people who think it should be mandated and people who think it's stupid.
1 comments
jrockway 6438 days ago
Anyone who's ever spent hours going down a rabbit hole that in retrospect was an obvious mistake may have a conception of why it's not necessarily a waste of resources. That, and anyone who realizes that programming isn't straightforward and he may not have all the best ideas about how to do something.

Sure, but many people know when they are about to go down a rabbit hole, and can just ask a colleague for some advice.

Also, experience is the best teacher. If you rely on the person sitting next to you to prevent you from making mistakes, you don't learn anything.

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gruseom 6438 days ago
If you know in advance that it's a rabbit hole, that isn't what I meant by rabbit hole.

But I'm not sure what the point is. Arguments about pair programming in general never go anywhere. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, that it isn't "stupid".

I like making things together with others, and I like doing stuff on my own, and I like not being micromanaged and told how to work, and I think my code gets better when I work on it with somebody smart, and I think I contribute to other people's too. You figure me out.

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jrockway 6438 days ago
But I'm not sure what the point is. Arguments about pair programming in general never go anywhere. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, that it isn't "stupid".

You are putting words in my mouth. I didn't say anything about pair programming being stupid.

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gruseom 6438 days ago
No, the original comment did.
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