Editing Pair programming (section)

==Studies==
There are both empirical studies and meta-analyses of pair programming. The empirical studies tend to examine the level of productivity and the quality of the code, while meta-analyses may focus on biases introduced by the process of testing and publishing.

A [[meta-analysis]] found pairs typically consider more design alternatives than programmers working alone, arrive at simpler, more maintainable designs, and catch design defects earlier. However, it raised concerns that its findings may have been influenced by "signs of [[publication bias]] among published studies on pair programming." It concluded that "pair programming is not uniformly beneficial or effective."<ref name="hannay-meta">{{cite journal
| last = Hannay
| first = Jo E.
|author2=Tore Dybå |author3=Erik Arisholm |author4=Dag I.K. Sjøberg
 | title = The Effectiveness of Pair Programming: A Meta-Analysis
| journal = Information and Software Technology
| volume = 51
| issue = 7
| pages = 1110–1122
|date=July 2009
| doi = 10.1016/j.infsof.2009.02.001}}</ref>

Although pair programmers may complete a task faster than a solo programmer, the total number of [[man-hour]]s increases.<ref name="ijhcs"/> A manager would have to balance faster completion of the work and reduced testing and debugging time against the higher cost of coding. The relative weight of these factors can vary by project and task.

The benefit of pairing is greatest on tasks that the programmers do not fully understand before they begin: that is, challenging tasks that call for creativity and sophistication, and for novices as compared to experts.<ref name='ijhcs'>{{cite journal
| last = Lui
| first = Kim Man
| title = Pair programming productivity: Novice–novice vs. expert–expert
| journal = International Journal of Human–Computer Studies
| volume = 64
| issue = 9
| pages = 915–925
| date = September 2006
| doi = 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.04.010
| url = http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/305j/pair-hcs-2006.pdf
| access-date = 2012-11-18
| citeseerx = 10.1.1.364.2159
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720105133/http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/305j/pair-hcs-2006.pdf
| archive-date = 2011-07-20
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Pair programming could be helpful for attaining high quality and correctness on complex programming tasks, but it would also increase the development effort (cost) significantly.<ref name="hannay-meta"/>

On simple tasks, which the pair already fully understands, pairing results in a net drop in productivity.<ref name="ijhcs"/><ref name="Arisholm 2007 65–86">{{cite journal
| last = Arisholm
| first = Erik
|author2=Hans Gallis |author3=Tore Dybå |author4=Dag I.K. Sjøberg
 | title = Evaluating Pair Programming with Respect to System Complexity and Programmer Expertise
| journal = IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
| volume = 33
| issue = 2
| pages = 65–86
|date=February 2007
| doi = 10.1109/TSE.2007.17
| s2cid = 9889035
| url = http://simula.no/research/se/publications/Arisholm.2006.2/simula_pdf_file
| access-date = 2008-07-21
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101029033020/http://simula.no/research/se/publications/Arisholm.2006.2/simula_pdf_file
| archive-date = 2010-10-29
| url-status = dead}}</ref> It may reduce the code development time but also risks reducing the quality of the program.<ref name="hannay-meta"/> Productivity can also drop when novice–novice pairing is used without sufficient availability of a mentor to coach them.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stephens|first=Matt |author2=Doug Rosenberg |title=Will Pair Programming Really Improve Your Project?|url=http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=10| access-date = 28 May 2011}}</ref>

A study of programmers using AI assistance tools such as [[GitHub Copilot]] found that while some programmers conceived of AI assistance as similar to pair programming, in practice the use of such tools is very different in terms of the programmer experience, with the human programmer having to transition repeatedly between driver and navigator roles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarkar |first1=Advait |last2=Gordon |first2=Andrew D. |last3=Negreanu |first3=Carina |last4=Poelitz |first4=Christian |last5=Ragavan |first5=Sruti S. |last6=Zorn |first6=Ben |title=What is it like to program with artificial intelligence? |journal=Psychology of Programming Interest Group |date=2022 |url=https://www.ppig.org/papers/2022-ppig-33rd-sarkar/ |access-date=27 March 2023}}</ref>