As some others have pointed out, XP is not at all about "here, watch me", with the only duty to spot typos and minor errors. It is about two sets of minds operating on the same issue in the same moment of time, simultaneously generating and reviewing code. It combines the effort, experience and alternate views of two people into, essentially, one input (into the machine). After a little experience with this method and with the same partner, you can churn out some pretty impressive material pretty quickly.

I'm not sure if this is a "general practice" in some places, but I do know a lot of people who do this for their own projects or in their small companies, not out of a requirement but a preference.

It's understandable that some people would prefer to be left alone and do their coding rogue-style, but being a complete neophyte (have a medium-range experience with Perl, but absolutely no formal education or in-depth knowledge of programming), I would very much welcome such a situation, if the partner was a more mature programmer. Having someone watch over my shoulder and offering tips and advice when I'm about to make a blunder or to offer explanations of why what I attempted was silly or non-functional would be an extremely benifical experience.

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