Ask HN: What are improvements that can be made on Paired Programming?

1 points by HelloFellowDevs 5 years ago | 6 comments

With the new current state of work being more distributed and remote, I find myself on more than a few long paired programming sessions that feel like a time sink and/or chore. I was wondering anything that I can introduce to make it better? Does anyone have experience pair programming online a lot?

tucif 5 years ago |

A great thing would be all sides involved being able to use their own stack of tools to write and navigate the code.

Usual remote control/vnc limit you to use whatever the other person is using, which makes it more difficult when that person isn't using the same stack you are used to (different terminal emulator, shell, editor, OS)

If there was a way for me to edit a file using vim and the other person to use vscode, for example, that would be a good step forward, all while still being able to see where the other's cursor and selections are.

HelloFellowDevs 5 years ago | |

Yeah, if only there was a plugin for code sync between editors. It would help to be more engaged from both parties.

tucif 5 years ago | | |

Look! Someone made just that cross-editor sync: Gitduck https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24228826

earpwald 5 years ago |

I've noticed that in my role as team lead i spend more time watching screen shares etc.

What I prefer is using VS Code to Live Share as it makes it much easier to talk through and show what I mean or review in real time.

Its hard, but it is worth the time when two devs can work together in such a manner.

HelloFellowDevs 5 years ago | |

We're pretty locked into the JetBrains licensing scheme, but I'll look for stuff related to LiveShare in IntelliJ

jimmyvalmer 5 years ago |

PP is counterproductive enough in person. Doing it over Zoom seems like a sadistic corporate (and corporal) punishment. Divide up the work like a normal dev team, and program in solitude as G-- intended.