If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed.
When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.
When debugging, novices insert corrective code; experts remove defective code.
Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
If you cannot grok the overall structure of a program while taking a shower, you are not ready to code it.
An organisation that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only.
It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter.
Software is usually accompanied by documentation in the form of big fat scary manuals that nobody ever reads. In fact, for the past five years most of the manuals shipped with software products have actually been copies of Stephen King's The Stand with new covers pasted on.
Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer.
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later
Most people treat the office manual the way they treat a software manual. They never look at it.
We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.
Analytical software enables you to shift human resources from rote data collection to value-added customer service and support where the human touch makes a profound difference.
Paying isn’t wrong, and being paid isn’t wrong. Trampling other people’s freedom and community is wrong, so the free software movement aims to put an end to it, at least in the area of software.
At first I hoped that such a technically unsound project would collapse but I soon realized it was doomed to success. Almost anything in software can be implemented, sold, and even used given enough determination. There is nothing a mere scientist can say that will stand against the flood of a hundred million dollars. But there is one quality that cannot be purchased in this way - and that is reliability. The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity. It is a price which the very rich find most hard to pay.
We decided that the French could never write user-friendly software because they're so rude.
Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.
The suddenness of the leap from hardware to software cannot but produce a period of anarchy and collapse, especially in the developed countries.
Software sucks because users demand it to.
Software Engineering might be science; but that's not what I do. I'm a hacker, not an engineer.
The best performance improvement is the transition from the nonworking state to the working state.
Testing by itself does not improve software quality. Test results are an indicator of quality, but in and of themselves, they don't improve it. Trying to improve software quality by increasing the amount of testing is like trying to lose weight by weighing yourself more often. What you eat before you step onto the scale determines how much you will weigh, and the software development techniques you use determine how many errors testing will find. If you want to lose weight, don't buy a new scale; change your diet. If you want to improve your software, don't test more; develop better.
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