Data Structures Quotes

• Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

  Linus Torvalds

  Data, Worry, Structure

  Message to Git Mailing List, lwn.net. July 27, 2006.

  75 Copy quote

  Show source

• Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around.

  Eric S. Raymond

  Smart, Data, Simplicity

  Eric S. Raymond (2001). “The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary”, p.37, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming.

  Rob Pike

  Self, Data, Algorithms

  24 Copy quote

• I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code or his data structures more important. Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

  Linus Torvalds

  Trust, Data, Differences

  Message to Git mailing list, lwn.net. June 27, 2006.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.

  Alan Perlis

  Trust, Data, Function

  34 Copy quote

• Generally, the craft of programming is the factoring of a set of requirements into a a set of functions and data structures.

  Douglas Crockford

  Data, Crafts, Requirements

  48 Copy quote

• It's easy to make mistakes that only come out much later, after you've already implemented a lot of code. You'll realize Oh I should have used a different type of data structure. Start over from scratch.

  Guido van Rossum

  Mistake, Should Have, Data

  12 Copy quote

• The programmer's primary weapon in the never-ending battle against slow system is to change the intramodular structure. Our first response should be to reorganize the modules' data structures.

  Fred Brooks

  Data, Battle, Weapons

  "Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction". Book by Steve C. McConnell, 1993.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• A data structure is just a stupid programming language.

  Bill Gosper

  Stupid, Data, Language

  8 Copy quote