The 17 th White House Papers Graduate Research In Informatics at Sussex

Pair programming has been the subject of studies ascertaining its business costs and benefits (Gittins, Hope et al. 2001), providing insight into what it is like (Ambu and Gianneschi 2003) and giving advice about its adoption (Dick and Zarnett 2002). Studies in the psychology of software development have provided insight into the behaviour and knowledge of successful programmers. These two disciplines provide a foundation for assessing the cognitive aspects of pair programming and suggesting an initial categorisation of behaviours to assist in studies. This paper then discusses the early findings from an initial observational study supporting the need for a better understanding of the cognitive aspects of programming in pairs.