Exploratory comparison of expert and novice pair programmers

Abstract

We conducted a quasi-experiment comparing novice pair programmers to expert pair programmers. The expert pairs wrote tests with a higher instruction, line, and method coverage but were slower than the novices. The pairs within both groups switched keyboard and mouse possession frequently. Furthermore, most pairs did not share the input devices equally but rather had one partner who is more active than the other. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.