Cloud Pair Programming

Software developers of all team sizes often need to participate in some form of collaborative programming; whether it involves code-review, interviews, or simply helping a peer fix a lingering bug. Pair Programming is a tenet of agile software development in which two programmers focus their energies simultaneously on one code base. Typically there is a “driver” who types at the keyboard while a “navigator” or “observer” reviews the changes. Our work revolved around the pursuit of an environment where people can work in their own space, seamlessly collaborating and sharing their state at any time. In partnership with IBM Canada, we investigated the effectiveness of Eclispe Orion; an open source real-time collaborative editor within the Cloud.