The master programmer is to the novice programmer what the Martial arts master is to the student. The master moves with little effort and achieves his ends eff

The master programmer is to the novice programmer what the Martial arts master is to the student. The master moves with little effort and achieves his ends efficiently and easily. This is not to say that a programmer is a kung-fu expert, instead that mastery is about efficiency. Between master and student is a third step called "expert" where the student has the required skill but does not yet possess the efficiency mindset. I too have witnessed skilled programmers doing far more work than necessary for no reason.