Further evaluations of industry-inspired pair programming communication guidelines with undergraduate students

Abstract

Pair programming has several benefits when it is successfully used by students and experts alike. However, research shows that novice pairs find the necessary pair communication to be one of the main challenges in adopting this process. A set of industry-inspired pair programming guidelines have been derived and evaluated from qualitative examinations of expert pairs, with the aim of helping novice programmers communicate within their pair. This research describes a further evaluation of these guidelines with a number of student pairs, and demonstrates how novice pairs who were exposed to the guidelines became comfortable communicating with their partners.