Pair Programming “Potential Benefits and Threats”

Agile software methodologies are preferred over traditional methods in a variety of industry projects. Pair programming is a key practice of Extreme Programming; an agile software development technique, in which two students/ programmers/ co - workers work together at one terminal. One, the writer, writes code while the other, the analyst, reviews each line of code as it is typed in. The two co - workers swap roles frequently. For the IT students who are the future IT professionals of a country, Pair Programming may be a good method of training, as they need to inculcate the necessary soft skills that are essential in software development besides the necessary technical background. Stud ents need to learn how to work in a team, one of the key aspects of sustenance in an industry. This helps them to develop the art of communication and interaction. This indeed makes them progress towards the path of making themselves better IT managers. Ex periencing team work i.e. working in tandem with team members is an essential preparation for professional software development. In this process of learning the Mentor plays a vital role. Mentor doesn’t only guide the students towards the completion of the project or assignment but also helps the students in their mental conditioning. The objective of this paper is to give a comparative study of a few authors, where the challenges faced by the students and how Pair Programming or collaborative learning can benefit and pose threats to students are explored.