Remote/Pair-Programming in-the-cloud

[Cameron Simpson]

On 03Aug2019 16:51, DL Neil <PythonList at DancesWithMice.info> wrote:
>On 3/08/19 11:50 AM, Cameron Simpson wrote:
>>appear.in can also screen share along with its video conferencing, 
>>and I imagine Zoom might do so also. But a screen share is "read 
>>only" for the other party. You could both screen share of course, 
>>but it doesn't solve the keep-the-code-in-sync issue.
>
>Thanks Cameron.
>
>TBH I fear that the keep-the-code-in-sync issue is a bit of a 'red 
>herring'. Do your pair-programming exercises ever involve both 
>developing the same code-file at the same time?

My pair programming experience is pretty limited. If peering over 
someone's should is enough, you're good. If you ever swap roles (typing 
versus reviewing) I'd think it gets trickier.

>A simple screen-share solution has to be the MVP:
>- I can see the code someone wants to show/is requesting help for
>- we can talk through the question
>- but I can't 'take control', eg would have to ask the other person to 
>scroll in order to show a piece of code 'somewhere else'.
>
>Perhaps this is good discipline?

If you're teaching, then yes, sounds good to me. Student types, teacher 
observes.

If it's two peers (regardless of relative expertise in the current 
problem) I'd imagine wanting to switch around occasionally. Like: 
Observer: what if we do blah-blah? Coder: not sure what you mean.  
Observer: types short example code, because it is easier than a precise 
verbal explaination. Coder: if ok, adapts the example to the actual 
problem.

If you're mentoring/tutoring, you can put the typing in the associated 
text messaging system - I think most video conferency things let people 
message inside the conference? So you're not sharing a keyboard, but you 
can pass text/code around for copy/paste.

>One of the PythonAnywhere principals has come back to me [...]
>In PA, if I open a "console", it can be shared with all my (PA-defined) 
>"students" as r/o. Better, is that anyone who cares to ask for help 
>(registered as one of my students) can ask me to 'look over their 
>shoulder'. As well as navigating the other person's source-files, I 
>think I could initiate a test, or quick edit, in that mode.
>
>(if you'd like to give-it-a-whirl/have-a-go, they offer free accounts 
>(with modest but quite functional facilities) and the registration 
>process is not onerous - if we* can arrange an RDV, I'll be happy to 
>try working as a pair...)

Actually, I'd like that. But I'm in GMT+10. Guessing you're in GMT? We 
could take that off list.

>* by "we" I mean any list-member, not just Cameron (whose suggestion 
>heads this post)

My suggestions were merely "here're two more video conferencing 
services".

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson <cs at cskk.id.au>