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Eelco Verbrugge
Eelco Verbrugge

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Pair programming in PHPStorm

What is pair programming

According to wikipedia: Pair programming is an agile software development technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation.

Best said: you and your colleague program together at the same time. Wether you sit next to each other or do this online, the idea is you switch roles now and then so you both programmed a part of the code. One is coding and the other will help you while you write your code and both players think out loud.

Like drivers in a rally car:

Why would you pair program

For many reasons:

  • Problems are better solved, code quality increases
  • Your code is being reviewed on the go
  • Better ideas by talking through your ideas and solutions
  • Learning from each other when having different approaches

How to pair program in PHPStorm

Of course you can share your screen and pair program, but I prefer doing so via PHPStorm and this is how to:

  1. Start a session

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  1. Access control
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  2. Accept
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  3. Send url for invitation

CongratS! You are officially pair programming now

Bonus: follow your colleague

When a sessions is running, you can easily follow each other by clicking on the name of your colleague. It should color your window and say something like "Following colleague..."

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Checkout the documentation for more info and how to setup your session from the start (https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/code-with-me.html#start-guest)[https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/code-with-me.html#start-guest]

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