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Great programming quotes

68 points by lispygem 16y ago

endergen 16y ago
The best hands down quote in my opinion is: There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. -Phil Karlton
- fizx 16y ago
  I like the variant: "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors."
- jdale27 16y ago
  You've confused computer science with programming.
frossie 16y ago
For those who didn't make it past the first page, this one's new on me and became an instant favourite: You can stand on the shoulders of giants OR a big enough pile of dwarfs, works either way.
Alex63 16y ago
My favorite comes from Gerry Weinberg: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
zalew 16y ago
"Once a new technology starts rolling, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road." - Stewart Brand
hazmattron 16y ago
Linux is only free if your time has no value True, but in my experience it's a worthy investment of valuable time. I spent three years using Linux distros, and though I use OSX now, I'm much more comfortable with general system administration than I would have been otherwise.
- Goosey 16y ago
  The irritating thing about that argument is it comes with the built-in implication that you already know something else (Windows/OSX/whatever). It is basically complaining about learning-curve, right? The other irritating thing is it usually 'means' general computer usage, but as hackers we need to choose OS's for things like server deployments, development environments, etc. In my experience when you start mixing in enough complex/worthwhile applications of the OS it becomes a wash in time consumption between *nix/Windows (since you are using the bulk of your time learning application-level things) So if your doing something 'worthwhile' might as well go with the option that only costs 1 of the assets rather than three (time, money, and freedom)
  - hazmattron 16y ago
    You make an excellent point about the application-level learning, I actually noticed myself that I was spending a vast amount of time just configuring my OS and apps -- time which I could have spent actually producing things. This was my primary justification for buying my Mac, though I still think I learned a lot using Linux that I wouldn't have otherwise ...patience and perseverance, among other things.
- dkersten 16y ago
  Having recently had to do some crazy commandline-fu (powershell and cmd.exe) to fix my Windows install, I have to say that there really is no comparison - linux wins hands down. Sure, part of it was familiarity, but it felt so clunky and awkward that I don't think thats all it was. The flexibility of bash, awk, sed, grep etc etc cannot be overstated, IMHO. On another front, I've found Linux to be time saving, compared to Windows. For example, on a new install, on Windows I now have to hunt for the software I need from lots of different locations, download each one manually and install each one manually (and its impossible or awkward to automate, so you have to sit through a load of install GUIs - or switch CDs if its something proprietary that only comes on CD, though luckily I don't even remember the last time I had to do that, even my games are digital distribution games nowadays). On Linux, all the base stuff is "probably" (depending on your distro) already installed. The rest can be batch installed by a single command (pacman, apt-get, yum, etc) and you can then leave to do something else while you wait for it to install. Similarly, Microsofts advertisements claim that Linux is difficult and time consuming to keep up to date - what with Windows Update and all. But we all know that on linux this is just a single command (pacman -Su, apt-get upgrade, etc) - this can, of course, easily be automated to run at certain times. Windows Update only updates Microsoft software - the Linux command will update all software installed through the package management system. Of course, this doesn't invalidate the quote - you still spend time to make Linux do what you need, but you do on other operating systems too, so relatively to the non-free operating systems (which take the same or more of your time), Linux is, indeed, free.
igorgue 16y ago
Loved this one: Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
jdp 16y ago
Another sizeable quotes collection: http://quotes.cat-v.org/programming/ http://quotes.cat-v.org/programming/
GreenMan 16y ago
There's another decent collection of quotes here: http://www.bobarcher.org/software/programming_quotes.html http://www.bobarcher.org/software/programming_quotes.html
tszming 16y ago
Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations? - Steve Jobs
st3fan 16y ago
One of my favorite code comments comes from qmail: /* NFS Dorks */
bitsai 16y ago
A collection of great programming quotes from Alan Perlis (first recipient of the Turing Award): http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html
jackowayed 16y ago
It's pretty lame that they closed this question just because it doesn't fit the Stack Overflow model and doesn't have a right answer. Part of a moderator's job is to use judgment and ignore rules when it makes sense to do so. This is a great thread, and closing it (even after 600 posts) seems like a bad decision.
- m_myers 16y ago
  It is closed mainly because with 600+ answers, people weren't checking for duplicate quotes anymore. Keeping it open wouldn't really serve any purpose at this point. (At least, that's what I would think. I've only been on the job for two days.)
10ren 16y ago
There need be no real danger of it ever becoming a drudge, for any processes that are quite mechanical may be turned over to the machine itself. - Alan Turing Douglas Adams' version of Hoare's 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.: their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws. http://www.otostopcu.org/yazi/h2g2/b4c36.php http://www.otostopcu.org/yazi/h2g2/b4c36.php
arethuza 16y ago
"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." C. A. R. Hoare
balding_n_tired 16y ago
In Jon Bentley's long-ago "Programming Pearls" column in CACM he had at least one "Computer Science by Bumper Sticker" column. You can find one in the collection_Programming Pearls_ .

68 points by lispygem 16y ago

The best hands down quote in my opinion is: There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. -Phil Karlton

fizx 16y ago
I like the variant: "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors."
jdale27 16y ago
You've confused computer science with programming.

frossie 16y ago

For those who didn't make it past the first page, this one's new on me and became an instant favourite: You can stand on the shoulders of giants OR a big enough pile of dwarfs, works either way.

Alex63 16y ago

My favorite comes from Gerry Weinberg: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

zalew 16y ago

"Once a new technology starts rolling, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road." - Stewart Brand

hazmattron 16y ago

Linux is only free if your time has no value True, but in my experience it's a worthy investment of valuable time. I spent three years using Linux distros, and though I use OSX now, I'm much more comfortable with general system administration than I would have been otherwise.

Goosey 16y ago
The irritating thing about that argument is it comes with the built-in implication that you already know something else (Windows/OSX/whatever). It is basically complaining about learning-curve, right? The other irritating thing is it usually 'means' general computer usage, but as hackers we need to choose OS's for things like server deployments, development environments, etc. In my experience when you start mixing in enough complex/worthwhile applications of the OS it becomes a wash in time consumption between *nix/Windows (since you are using the bulk of your time learning application-level things) So if your doing something 'worthwhile' might as well go with the option that only costs 1 of the assets rather than three (time, money, and freedom)
- hazmattron 16y ago
  You make an excellent point about the application-level learning, I actually noticed myself that I was spending a vast amount of time just configuring my OS and apps -- time which I could have spent actually producing things. This was my primary justification for buying my Mac, though I still think I learned a lot using Linux that I wouldn't have otherwise ...patience and perseverance, among other things.
dkersten 16y ago
Having recently had to do some crazy commandline-fu (powershell and cmd.exe) to fix my Windows install, I have to say that there really is no comparison - linux wins hands down. Sure, part of it was familiarity, but it felt so clunky and awkward that I don't think thats all it was. The flexibility of bash, awk, sed, grep etc etc cannot be overstated, IMHO. On another front, I've found Linux to be time saving, compared to Windows. For example, on a new install, on Windows I now have to hunt for the software I need from lots of different locations, download each one manually and install each one manually (and its impossible or awkward to automate, so you have to sit through a load of install GUIs - or switch CDs if its something proprietary that only comes on CD, though luckily I don't even remember the last time I had to do that, even my games are digital distribution games nowadays). On Linux, all the base stuff is "probably" (depending on your distro) already installed. The rest can be batch installed by a single command (pacman, apt-get, yum, etc) and you can then leave to do something else while you wait for it to install. Similarly, Microsofts advertisements claim that Linux is difficult and time consuming to keep up to date - what with Windows Update and all. But we all know that on linux this is just a single command (pacman -Su, apt-get upgrade, etc) - this can, of course, easily be automated to run at certain times. Windows Update only updates Microsoft software - the Linux command will update all software installed through the package management system. Of course, this doesn't invalidate the quote - you still spend time to make Linux do what you need, but you do on other operating systems too, so relatively to the non-free operating systems (which take the same or more of your time), Linux is, indeed, free.

igorgue 16y ago

Loved this one: Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

jdp 16y ago

Another sizeable quotes collection: http://quotes.cat-v.org/programming/ http://quotes.cat-v.org/programming/

GreenMan 16y ago

There's another decent collection of quotes here: http://www.bobarcher.org/software/programming_quotes.html http://www.bobarcher.org/software/programming_quotes.html

tszming 16y ago

Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations? - Steve Jobs

st3fan 16y ago

One of my favorite code comments comes from qmail: /* NFS Dorks */

bitsai 16y ago

A collection of great programming quotes from Alan Perlis (first recipient of the Turing Award): http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html http://www.cs.yale.edu/quotes.html

jackowayed 16y ago

It's pretty lame that they closed this question just because it doesn't fit the Stack Overflow model and doesn't have a right answer. Part of a moderator's job is to use judgment and ignore rules when it makes sense to do so. This is a great thread, and closing it (even after 600 posts) seems like a bad decision.

m_myers 16y ago
It is closed mainly because with 600+ answers, people weren't checking for duplicate quotes anymore. Keeping it open wouldn't really serve any purpose at this point. (At least, that's what I would think. I've only been on the job for two days.)

10ren 16y ago

There need be no real danger of it ever becoming a drudge, for any processes that are quite mechanical may be turned over to the machine itself. - Alan Turing Douglas Adams' version of Hoare's 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.: their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws. http://www.otostopcu.org/yazi/h2g2/b4c36.php http://www.otostopcu.org/yazi/h2g2/b4c36.php

arethuza 16y ago

"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." C. A. R. Hoare

balding_n_tired 16y ago

In Jon Bentley's long-ago "Programming Pearls" column in CACM he had at least one "Computer Science by Bumper Sticker" column. You can find one in the collection_Programming Pearls_ .