 Extreme Programming (XP)
is not just a codification of bad programming practices in bad environments. One key point is the constraining
(read improving) effects that pair programming places on cowboy programmers with
a JANGIT (Just Add New Garbage Ignoring Tests) mentality. Even if you tend to have cowboy coders in your group,
pairing them up with an experienced extreme programmer virtually guarantees the code will be written properly and
the necessary testing will also be put in place.
Even if two cowboys are
paired together the resulting code will still be better than if either went off on their own. XP provides a certain
set of checks and balances between a pair since no |
two people think alike. When combined with the other rules of XP what results is the
elimination of bad programming practices and bad environments.
Pairing also gets rid of
any problems resulting from mediocre programmers writing poor code and documentation.
I'm speaking from the point
of personal experience in that I didn't think pair programming was going to help me improve my code and make me
faster. So I went in quite skeptical. As you can tell, my views have changed just a bit.
eXPerience Software |
