TITLE: Programming is Social
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 30, 2014  4:09 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
The
<A HREF="http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/math-horizons/math-horizons-contents-february-2014">
   February 2014 issue</A>
of <EM>Math Horizons</EM> included
<A HREF="http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/horizons/strogatz_feb14.pdf">
   A Conversation With Steven Strogatz</A>,
an interview conducted by Patrick Honner.  The following passage
came to mind this week:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 <B>PH</B>: Math is collaborative?  <BR/><BR/>

 <B>SS</B>: Yeah, math is social.  ...  The fact that math
 is social would come as a surprise to the people who think
 of it as antisocial.  <BR/><BR/>

 <B>PH</B>: It might also come as a surprise to some math
 teachers!  <BR/><BR/>

 <B>SS</B>: It's extremely social.  Mathematicians constantly
 spend time talking to each other about places where they're
 stuck.  They get insights from each other, new ways of
 looking at things.  Sometimes it's just to commiserate.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Programming is social, too.  Most people think it's not.  With
assistance from media portrayals of programmers and sloppy
stereotypes of our own, they think most of us would prefer to
work alone in the dark.  Some do, of course, but even then most
programmers I know like to talk shop with other programmers all
the time.  They like to talk about the places where they are
stuck, as well as the places they <EM>used</EM> to be stuck.
War stories are the currency of the programmer community.

I think a big chunk of the "programming solo" preference many
programmers profess is learned habit.  Most programming
instruction and university course work encourages or requires
students to work alone.  What if we started students off with
pair programming in their CS 1 course, and other courses
nurtured that habit throughout the rest of their studies?
Perhaps programmers would learn a different habit.

My agile software development students this semester are doing
all of their project work via pair programming.  Class time is
full of discussion: about the problem they are solving, about
the program they are evolving, and about the intricacies of
Java.  They've been learning something about all three, and a
large part of that learning has been social.

They've only been trying out XP for a couple of weeks, so
naturally the new style hasn't replaced their old habits.  I
see them fall out of pairing occasionally.  One partner will
switch off to another computer to look up the documentation
for a Java class, and pretty soon both partners are quietly
looking at their own screens.  Out of deference to me or the
course, though, they return after a couple of minutes and
resume their conversation.  (I'm trying to be a gentle coach,
not a ruthless tyrant, when it comes to the practices.)

I suspect a couple members of the class would prefer to
program on their own, even after noticing the benefits of
pairing.  Others really enjoy pair programming but may well
fall back into solo programming after the class ends.  Old
habits die hard, if at all.  That's too bad, because most of
us are better programmers when pairing.

But even if they do choose, or fall back into, old habits,
I'm sure that programming will remain a social activity for
them, at some level.  There are too many war stories to tell.
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