Computer Programming Quotes

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.

Defect-free software does not exist.

software

Doing linear scans over an associative array is like trying to club someone to death with a loaded Uzi.

Rules of Optimization: Rule 1: Don't do it. Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet.

Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written, and another for which it wasn't.

Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.

All code is technical debt; some code just has a higher interest rate.

For new features, people insist on LOUD explicit syntax. For established features, people want terse notation.

One man's constant is another man's variable.

Functions delay binding: data structures induce binding. Moral: Structure data late in the programming process.

Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semi-colons.

Every program is a part of some other program and rarely fits.

If a program manipulates a large amount of data, it does so in a small number of ways.

It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.

A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.

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

Get into a rut early: Do the same processes the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference (!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list - not the size of his vocabulary.

If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.

Recursion is the root of computation since it trades description for time.

Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.

If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.

A program without a loop and a structured variable isn't worth writing.

A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.

Wherever there is modularity there is the potential for misunderstanding: Hiding information implies a need to check communication.

Optimization hinders evolution.

To understand a program you must become both the machine and the program.

Perhaps if we wrote programs from childhood on, as adults we'd be able to read them.

There will always be things we wish to say in our programs that in all known languages can only be said poorly.

Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.

In programming, everything we do is a special case of something more general - and often we know it too quickly.

Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers.

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.

Documentation is like term insurance: It satisfies because almost no one who subscribes to it depends on its benefits.

When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.

Most people find the concept of programming obvious, but the doing impossible.

You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.

It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail and learning to be self-critical?

education

The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.