Software Quotes - Page 6

• Considering the current sad state of our computer programs, software development is clearly still a black art, and cannot yet be called an engineering discipline.

  William J. Clinton

  Art, Technology, Engineering

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• Early on, when software was developed by computer scientists, just people working with computers, people passed around software because that was how you got computers to do things.

  Tim O'Reilly

  Technology, People, Computer

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• Most software has a tiny essence that justifies its existence, everything after that is wants and desires mistaken for needs and necessities.

  David Heinemeier Hansson

  Essence, Simplicity, Desire

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• No one should expect building a new high-growth, software-powered company in an established industry to be easy. It's brutally difficult.

  Marc Andreessen

  Growth, Building, Easy

  "Why Software Is Eating The World" by Marc Andreessen, www.wsj.com. August 20, 2011.

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• Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more 'user-friendly'... Their best approach so far has been to take all the old brochures and stamp the words 'user-friendly' on the cover.

  Bill Gates

  Technology, Trying, Friendly

  61 Copy quote

• It's hardware that makes a machine fast. It's software that makes a fast machine slow.

  Craig Reucassel

  Machines, Computer, Hardware

  88 Copy quote

• Digital art software has empowered both the painterly side of photographers, and the photographer side of painters.

  Buffy Sainte-Marie

  Photography, Art, Digital

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  48 Copy quote

• If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.

  Alan Cooper

  Design, Want, Helpful

  37 Copy quote

• It's hard to read through a book on the principles of magic without glancing at the cover periodically to make sure it isn't a book on software design.

  Bruce Tognazzini

  Book, Simplicity, Design

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• When to use iterative development? You should use iterative development only on projects that you want to succeed.

  Martin Fowler

  Use, Development, Want

  21 Copy quote

• The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same.

  Bill Gates

  Success, Engineering, Ideas

  "One-on-One with Bill Gates". Interview with Peter Jennings, abcnews.go.com. February 16, 2005.

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• Good software, like wine, takes time.

  Joel Spolsky

  Wine, Programming, Take Time

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• In order for us to deliver this we have to integrate the big-screen capability, the PC capability, and the Internet experience. This is a combination of hardware and software that delivers a new media experience.

  Paul Otellini

  Media, Order, Internet

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• The two [separate] UIs are both incredibly simple and don't even look
  like computer programs; they barely need menus. [When combined, they]
  suddenly look like software.

  Havoc Pennington

  Simple, Two, Needs

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• I don't think I've ever seen a piece of commercial software where the next version is simpler rather than more complex.

  Walter Bender

  Thinking, Pieces, Next

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• Impute
  People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

  Mike Markkula

  Book, People, Judging

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• Complexity control is the central problem of writing software in the real world

  Eric S. Raymond

  Real, Writing, World

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• Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry

  Eric S. Raymond

  Delusion, Persistent, Service Industry

  Eric S. Raymond (2001). “The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary”, p.120, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

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• A software system is transparent when you can look at it and immediately see what is going on. It is simple when what is going on is uncomplicated enough for a human brain to reason about all the potential cases without strain

  Eric S. Raymond

  Simple, Brain, Looks

  Eric S. Raymond (2003). “The Art of UNIX Programming”, p.19, Addison-Wesley Professional

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• The only way to write complex software that won't fall on its face is to hold its global complexity down - to build it out of simple pieces connected by well-defined interfaces, so that most problems are local and you can have some hope of fixing or optimizing a part without breaking the whole

  Eric S. Raymond

  Fall, Writing, Simple

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• Every good work of software starts by scratching a developers personal itch.

  Eric S. Raymond

  Good Work, Programming, Very Good

  Eric S. Raymond (2001). “The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary”, p.23, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

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• Asked about the fact that Apple's iTunes software for Windows computers was extremely popular, Jobs joked, 'It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.

  Walter Isaacson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Jobs

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Steve Jobs”, p.463, Simon and Schuster

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• I took a leave of absence from the internet company where I was working and bought a camera and a copy of Final Cut Pro editing software and made my first feature film, "Street Fight." It followed a crazy, racially charged mayoral election in Newark, NJ in which a young guy named Cory Booker was taking on the political machine of that city. It went on to be nominated for an Oscar and Emmy and was a real example of DIY film-making.

  Marshall Curry

  Crazy, Real, Fighting

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• If you think your management doesn't know what it's doing or that your organisation turns out low-quality software crap that embarrasses you, then leave.

  Edward Yourdon

  Thinking, Quality, Management

  Edward Yourdon (1998). “Rise & Resurrection of the American Programmer”, Yourdon

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