Software Engineering Quotes - Page 3

• Plan to throw one (implementation) away; you will, anyhow.

  Fred Brooks

  Programming, Software, Plans

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• A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.

  Steve McConnell

  Design, Programming, Force

  Steve McConnell (2004). “Code Complete”, p.107, Pearson Education

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• We try to solve the problem by rushing through the design process so that enough time is left at the end of the project to uncover the errors that were made because we rushed through the design process

  Glenford Myers

  Errors, Rushing, Design Process

  Glenford J. Myers (1978). “Composite/structured design”, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

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• ... programming requires more concentration than other activities. It's the reason programmers get upset about 'quick interruptions' - such interruptions are tantamount to asking a juggler to keep three balls in the air and hold your groceries at the same time.

  Steve McConnell

  Air, Upset, Three

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• Agile methods derive much of their agility by relying on the tacit knowledge embodied in the team, rather than writing the knowleadge down in plans.

  Barry Boehm

  Team, Writing, Agility

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• Every big computing disaster has come from taking too many ideas and putting them in one place.

  Gordon Bell

  Ideas, Disaster, Bigs

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• Poor management can increase software costs more rapidly than any other factor.

  Barry Boehm

  Teamwork, Poor Management, Cost

  "Planning Smarter: Creating Blueprint-Quality Software Specifications". Book by Tyson Gill (p. 14), 2002.

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• Adding last-minute features, whether in response to competitive pressure, as a developer's pet feature, or on the whim of management, causes more bugs in software than almost anything else.

  John Robbins

  Pet, Requirements, Lasts

  John Robbins (2000). “Debugging Applications: Microsoft”

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• The best way to get a project done faster is to start sooner

  Jim Highsmith

  Done, Way, Projects

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• One principle problem of educating software engineers is that they will not use a new method until they believe it works and, more importantly, that they will not believe the method will work until they see it for themselves.

  Watts Humphrey

  Believe, Principles, Use

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• It has been discovered that C++ provides a remarkable facility for concealing the trival details of a program - such as where its bugs are.

  Robert D Keppel

  Details, Bugs, Language

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• Never in the annals of software engineering was so much owed by so many to so few lines of code

  Martin Fowler

  Engineering, Lines, Software

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• Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation.

  Steve McConnell

  Teamwork, Hard Work, People

  Steve McConnell (1996). “Rapid Development”, p.297, Microsoft Press

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• If we play genie and grant client wishes, we are apt to construct castles of code in the air.

  Larry Constantine

  Play, Air, Wish

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• In software, the chain isn't as strong as its weakest link; it's as weak as all the weak links multiplied together.

  Steve McConnell

  Teamwork, Strong, Together

  Steve McConnell (2004). “Code Complete”, p.51, Pearson Education

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• Even the best planning is not so omniscient as to get it right the first time.

  Fred Brooks

  Firsts, Planning, Programming

  "The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering". Book by Fred Brooks, 1975.

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• Hiring people to write code to sell is not the same as hiring people to design and build durable, usable, dependable software.

  Larry Constantine

  Writing, People, Design

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• A good threat is worth a thousand tests.

  Boris Beizer

  Tests, Bugs, Programming

  Boris Beizer (1990). “Software Testing Techniques”, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

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• Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.

  Donald Knuth

  Funny Inspirational, Reading, Following Instructions

  Donald Ervin Knuth (1984). “The texbook”, Addison-Wesley Professional

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• A Perl program is correct if it gets the job done before your boss fires you.

  Larry Wall

  Jobs, Fire, Boss

  Tom Christiansen, brian d foy, Larry Wall, Jon Orwant (2012). “Programming Perl: Unmatched Power for Text Processing and Scripting”, p.26, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

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• The camel has evolved to be relatively self-sufficient. On the other hand, the camel has not evolved to smell good. Neither has Perl.

  Larry Wall

  Self, Hands, Smell

  Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant (2004). “Programming Perl: 3rd Edition”, p.4, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

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• A primary cause of complexity is that software vendors uncritically adopt almost any feature that users want.

  Niklaus Wirth

  Want, Causes, Vendors

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• We have to stop optimizing for programmers and start optimizing for users.

  Jeff Atwood

  Computer, Programming, Optimization

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• I have a pretty major problem with a language where one of the most common variables has the name $_

  Brian H. Hook

  Names, Variables, Common

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• The best meetings get real work done. When your people learn that your meetings actually accomplish something, they will stop making excuses to be elsewhere.

  Larry Constantine

  Teamwork, Real, People

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