Discontinous use of Pair Programming

Pair Programming (PP) has usually considered non effective for distributed teams, not working most of the time together (Williams et al., 2000; Baheti et al., 2002). In this chapter we discuss the effectiveness of PP at transferring knowledge and skills among students that met only occasionally and worked mostly independently. The effect of geographical distance between pair programmers has been already addressed by Baheti et al. (2002). They performed an experiment on a graduate class to assess whether it is feasible to use distributed PP to develop software. It turned out that distributed (i.e., geographically distant) pair programming teams can effectively develop software, that is, with productivity (in terms of LOC/hr) and code quality (in terms of grade awarded to the project developed) comparable to those of close-knit teams.

Spitzer IRAC Observations of Interacting Galaxies from 0 < z < 3.01

We have observed over 100 interacting galaxies (IGs) with Spitzer IRAC as part of a detailed study of the their properties (see also Zezas, et al. in this volume). The majority of sources are nearby. Precise IRAC imaging photometry of these galaxies finds a wide range of colors in these systems, and correlative spectroscopic data suggests the colors are reflected by composition that is in turn reflective of age; orientation also plays a role. We have also observed a distant pair of interacting galaxies at z=3.01, a HyLIG, EGS20 J1418+5236 (Huagg et al. 2006), and find that, like the nearby systems, it has similar processes at work albeit in a hyperactive way.To overcome limitations of some previous studies of IGs, we observed two complementary nearby samples, one selected on the basis of galaxy separation, and the other selected on a morphological basis. Figure 1 below is a summary IRAC [3.6um]-[4.5um] versus [5.8um]-[8.0um] color-color plot of these IGs. Five generic regions emerge: ellipticals near (0,-0.1), early-stage IGS around (1.5, -0.1), Seyfert 1s around (1.3, 0.5), Seyfert 2s around (1.5, 1.2), and LINERS/HII galaxies centered at 2.2, 0.2). These systems are each characterized by spectral dust features in the IRAC bands that are strong enough to influence and]or mirror the underlying stellar continuum colors. The arrows suggest possible evolutionary development.