Paper Info
Title
Evaluating Collaborative Practices in Acquiring Programming Skills: Findings of a Controlled Experiment
Abstract
[Context] Collaborative programming is achieved when two or more programmers develop software together. Pair Programming and Coding Dojo Randori are two increasingly adopted practices for collaborative programming. While the former encourages the collaboration in pairs, the latter promotes collaboration in groups. However, there is no broad understanding about the impact of these practices on the acquisition of programming skills. [Goal] In this study, we empirically compare the influence of both collaborative practices on two essential aspects of skill acquisition: motivation and learning. [Method] We conducted a controlled experiment with novice programmers applying solo programming and both collaborative practices to three different programming exercises using a crossed design. [Results] Our results showed that, while both practices outperformed solo programming, they also presented complementary benefits on acquiring programming skills. For instance, the programmers inserted less code anomalies in Coding Dojo Randori sessions than in Pair Programming sessions. On the other hand, the motivation was often considered to be stronger in the latter than in the former. [Conclusions] Our results suggest that the use of collaborative practices is particularly promising for acquiring programming skills, when programmers have little or no practical experience with software development.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1109/SBES.2015.24
SBES
Keywords
Field
DocType
Collaborative Programming, Pair Programming, Coding Dojo Randori, Programming Skills, Controlled Experiment
Pair programming,Software engineering,Systems engineering,Computer science,Extreme programming practices,Coding (social sciences),Software,Dreyfus model of skill acquisition,Controlled experiment,Multimedia,Software development,Collaborative programming
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
4
0.52
18
Authors
7
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Bernardo José da Silva Estácio182.59
Roberto Felício Oliveira2305.64
Sabrina Marczak325936.37
Marcos Kalinowski415421.30
Alessandro Garcia52231143.70
Rafael Prikladnicki684086.35
Carlos Lucena781.65