A groupware system to support collaborative programming: Design and experiences

The advances in network and collaboration technologies enable the creation of powerful environments for collaborative programming. One such environment is COLLECE, a groupware system to support collaborative edition, compilation and execution of programs in a synchronous distributed fashion, which includes advanced tools for communication, coordination and workspace awareness. The article analyses firstly some usability and design issues, discussing strengths and weaknesses of the system as a basis for the development of groupware tools to support collaborative programming. Then, the focus is on a number of experimental activities carried out. COLLECE was used to conduct a set of experimental activities about work productivity and program quality when comparing the activity of pair and solo programmers, and to analyse potential associations between ways of working and collaborating, and specific characteristics of the programs produced.

► We study the effects of using groupware to develop collaborative programming (CP).
► We have built COLLECE, a system to support CP in a synchronous distributed fashion.
► We conduct experiments for studying the benefits of CP.
► First, we compare the work of pair programmers with the work of solo programmers.
► In a second study, the influence of the CP in the program quality is analysed.