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. (C.A.R. Hoare) It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants. It has also been said that the software industry is an example of midgets standing on the toes of other midgets. (Alan Cooper) If McDonalds were run like a software company, one out of every hundred Big Macs would give you food poisoning, and the response would be, ‘We’re sorry, here’s a coupon for two more.’ (Mark Minasi) Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris. (Larry Wall) 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. (Bill Clinton)
Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen. (Edward V Berard) Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming. (Brian Kernigan) The best programmers are not marginally better than merely good ones. They are an order-of-magnitude better, measured by whatever standard: conceptual creativity, speed, ingenuity of design, or problem-solving ability. (Randall E. Stross) Writing code has a place in the human hierarchy worth somewhere above grave robbing and beneath managing. (Gerald Weinberg) As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it wasn’t as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs. (Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949)
Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable. (Ralph Johnson) Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen. (Edward V Berard) Any fool can use a computer. Many do. (Ted Nelson) Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris. (Larry Wall) Good code is its own best documentation. (Steve McConnell)