[from link:] "Throughout that entire time, Steele says, neither he nor Stallman took a break or made any small talk."<p>Well, of course not. This <i>was</i> the 70s, and we <i>are</i> talking about Guy Steele here; so they were probably far too busy scheming to make smalltalk.
Back in 1995 or 1996, I spent a long week-end doing extreme pair programming with Philip Nelson. We set up in his dining room and took an image from his whiteboard to a 80+% done product in 3 or 4 days. No meetings, no phone calls. With very few interruptions, we were able to maintain focus for hours.<p>The most notable interruption: while stretching, Phil accidently hit the rocker switch on the power strip with his foot. I'll never forget the look on his face when everything shut down. We only lost a couple minutes worth of edits, 'tho. I am a habitual save guy in emacs, whenever I switch buffers or pause to think.
Though not nearly as intense as the experience related in this anecdote, it is that same compulsion to maintain focus that makes pair programming so valuable for me ... and so difficult and uncomfortable. No doubt in my mind, though: I write much better code when I'm pairing with another developer.
How effective is pair programming when there is a skill and/or experience disparity between the two programmers? Will the worse/newer programming only hold back the better/more experienced programmer? Note: I'm not suggesting such was the case here.