[sllug-members]: Cooperative Coding

[Lucas Paul]

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 16:55, Andrew Jackman <kd7nyq at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I am very curious about what you are planning/doing... I don't have any
> > recommendations for software to enable it though. Are you going to use
> > this as a teaching tool? or are you going to try the Extreme Programing
> > idea of two developers per screen/keyboard idea?
>
> I am currently enrolled in the Computer Science program at the
> University of Utah.  Spring term was my first term there and the first
> term in which I was ever seriously assigned to do programming for a
> class.  It went well until we were assigned a project requiring
> collaboration.  The requirement was that no one person could do any
> coding without the other person watching and giving input.  It turned
> out to be one of the most frustrating experiences of the term, right
> next to trying to take a math class from a non-English speaking
> professor.
>
> Anyway, one major problem arose: I work full time.  It's not a big
> deal when I can do the homework by myself as my job allows me a lot of
> downtime.  I do have an internet connection, but it's through a beefy
> firewall and the speed is limited.
>
> We tried VNC, which worked, but it was way too slow.  It caused more
> frustration than anything else.  What we ended up doing was talking on
> the telephone and sending each other snippets of code as we updated
> them.  This was terribly slow and could have been easily replaced by a
> basic version control system with better results.
>
> In the end, we hacked the project together (in the script-kiddie usage
> of the term).  I don't know what grade we got, but I'm happier not
> knowing.
>
> To get to the point, we are anticipated to do some coding with about
> five people to a group with the Half-Life 2 engine.  The cooperative
> coding imperative will be similar to our previous project.  Once
> again, I'm the only one in the group who works full time and isn't
> available in the evenings for personal appearances.
>
> > Either way would you
> > mind letting us know how it goes?
>
> So far Gobby has proven to be the easiest solution to work with
> despite it not having many IDE features.  A few of my teammates have
> already tried it out and like it.  I have yet to get a tunnel going
> with it, but it shouldn't be difficult.  I have tested it on the
> company network and it appears to be nicely designed.  In addition, it
> has releases for both Windows and Linux, meaning that I can use my
> preferred productivity desktop of choice while everyone else can use
> Windows.
>

Excellent.  I came to a similar conclusion about Gobby.  It truly is
well-designed.

As mentioned in another part of the thread, I have found personally
> that voice communications are indispensable.  I personally like radios
> (from my days of Boy Scout camps and SAR), but VOIP seems to be the
> thing anymore.  Skype seems to do a very good job, but I have some
> complaints about the interface that keep me from using it as much as I
> would.  I've used Ventrilo for gaming and I like the simplicity,
> especially when your game of choices starts getting resource hungry.
> If anyone knows of a simple (little/no interface and small footprint)
> VOIP system that can be run either centrally on a private server (like
> ventrilo) or p2p, let me know.
>

Take a look at Mumble.  http://mumble.sourceforge.net/  It's low-latency and
is meant to be used while gaming.

On that same note, does anyone have any suggestions for microphones?
> I'd pay good money for a mic that doesn't pick up the air conditioners
> and PC fans at work. :(  (How hard is it to interface an aviator's mic
> to a PC?)
>
> > I have been interested in trying to
> > development something in that close of collaboration, but I don't know if
> > anyone could stand working that closely with me, and I don't know if I
> > could stand working that closely with them.
>
> I usually take my teammates to pizza first. :)  This encourages not
> only learning each others' styles of communication, but reminds
> everyone that coding isn't the only reason for our association.  Also,
> if you watch closely, you can determine the natural social order of
> the group and see any conflicts before they occur.  You want one
> leader (and only one) and you want to know if there are folks that
> work exceptionally well together.  The geniuses usually make
> themselves apparent, too, which work alone and only contribute and
> feel appreciated when acknowledged and consulted.  Anyway, I'm
> probably preaching to the choir...
>
> --
> Andrew Jackman
> kd7nyq at gmail.com
>
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Thanks for the update.  I for one am glad to hear about how things worked
out.

-- 
Lucas
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