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Comment by mhd | Hacker News Reader

Wow, that's one arrogant piece of writing. That still doesn't provide any good, scientific reason why pair programming is that much better -- yay for anecdotes.

But I guess I'm just one of those anti-social programmers. Excuse me while I try to see which of my unwashed heavy metal shirts to wear today.

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It sounds like you just didn't understand what he was trying to say.

Maybe you failed to invest the proper amount of time in the article? Perhaps you didn't pay enough attention, because you're lazy? I suppose you might be too overworked and stressed out to get it? Could it be that you used traditional reading practices? Is your work environment not conducive to reading a top N list? It could be that your boss doesn't care about excellence, which is why he hired a twit...

By chance, do you have halitosis?

Wow, way to be hostile. These two were raising valid points in which I agree with. The article really does seem to have an attitude to it. He could have raised his point with implying almost every time that "my company is better than everybody else" kind of tone. Bear in mind that I'm not against pair programming, in fact, I want to experience that some time in my career (unless narcolepsy kicks in after being passive for so long).

FWIW, I believe the comment you replied to was satire.

Not to speak for roc, but I believe the comment was intentionally written in the style of the original article, probably to mock it.

I was lampooning the arguments of the article.

I didn't think it was all that subtle, but either I was wrong or it just wasn't funny. My apologies to anyone who misinterpreted it.

Don't worry, I didn't feel offended. If I make a mistake, it's mostly assuming sarcasm in stuff that's meant in a serious way, not the other way 'round.

You should have provided some flimsy anecdote, though, just to complete the emulation.

oh. then I apologize for the reply if that was the original intention. Haha.

I too certainly got this holier-than-thou sense from reading the article, and I also felt that it missed the point.

Pair programming doesn't work for everyone not because of those pretty dumb reasons. Pair programming doesn't work for everyone because not everyone is the same in their thought processes. Personally, I'm a very outgoing guy and when working with a team on a problem I love to throw ideas around and, if I'm the more knowledgeable one of the group, teach. But I know for sure that some people would rather work alone on a problem, and if that's what gets a problem done quicker and more efficiently, power to that person!

I was hoping this article would dive into the more social aspects of pair programming, but nope. Instead it was "your hardware sucks" or "your company sucks".

Apart from the fact that we're still missing a serious study of pair programming (isolated from other Agile hooplah), it's also a false dichotomy. Isolated damsel programmer in the ivory cubicle vs. paired mind meld.

I would say "Pair programming? Yo, Obie, I already gotta pair!" in my best Andrew Dice Clay manner -- but with a German accent, my best Andrew Dice Clay manner is rather abysmal...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_programming#Scientific_stu...

"but with a German accent, my best Andrew Dice Clay manner is rather abysmal..."

Hmm. Andrew "Würfel" Klay could sound interesting ...

I always get the "this is why you should call us up" sales pitch vibe from Obie's writing

I too certainly got this holier-than-thou sense from reading the article, and I also felt that it missed the point.

The "holier-than-thou sense" is a major detriment to successful pair programming, as it is to any form of collaboration.

Maybe I'm blind but I really don't see too much arrogance here. He is admitting that pair programming does NOT work for everyone and the reasons he gives are, to me, compelling and true. He's not evangelizing pair programming as a magic bullet for everyone.

The mediocrity that surrounds a good programmer at a typical enterprise level shop is astounding. It surprises me that they allow some of the people to continue working there! There are a LOT of people out there that got into programming as a way to pay the bills and for those people, pair programming would probably be like torture.

I was thinking the same thing. This is just what the Rails community needs - another imperious douchebag.

In Obie's defense, he is one of Rails's original "imperious douchebags."

The next time I use the colloquialism "Damning with faint praise," I will think of this comment :-)

Actually, I find that arrogance itself is the most important factor that prevents good pair programming. This is also anecdotal -- please excuse me for the lack of well funded studies. But I find it best to concentrate on good communication. Getting hung up on the (perceived) slowness or lesser ability of the other programmer brings suboptimal results.

Eh, normally I find Obie to be sort of a jerk, but most of this doesn't come off that way.

Thanks! :)

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