Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.
If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.
Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
When debugging, novices insert corrective code; experts remove defective code.
The cheapest, fastest, and most reliable components are those that aren't there.
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until it's too late.
Premature optimization is the root of all evil in programming.
Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.
Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermodynamics; i.e. it always increases.
Software is like sex: It's better when it's free.
Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.
A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program in than some that do
There's an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know how to use my telephone.
If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100 and get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside.
or simply: