Impact of pair programming on thoroughness and fault detection effectiveness of unit test suites

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Abstract
Pair programming (PP) is regarded as one of the practices that can make testing more rigorous, thorough and effective. Therefore, we examined PP versus solo programming (SP) with respect to both thoroughness and fault detection effectiveness of test suites. Branch coverage (BC) and mutation score indicator (MSI) were used as measures of how thoroughly tests exercise programs, and how effective they are, respectively. It turned out that the PP practice did not significantly affect BC (U = 471.5, nonsignificant, r = − 0.03) and MSI (U = 422.0, nonsignificant, r = − 0.12). These results are consistent with the results of selective analysis in which projects with a limited number of assertions are excluded. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to get a more sensitive measure of our experiment effect as well as to reduce preexisting differences among subjects. The obtained results do not support anecdotal opinion regarding the positive impact of PP on thoroughness or fault detection effectiveness of unit tests. The validity of the results must be considered within the context of the limitations of the study, e.g. it is possible that the benefits of PP will appear in longer, more complex projects. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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