3 ms·

He answers: "The hardest part is deciding what the algorithms are, and then simplifying them as much as you can. It’s difficult to get things down to their sim

He answers: "The hardest part is deciding what the algorithms are, and then simplifying them as much as you can. It’s difficult to get things down to their simplest forms. You have to simulate in your mind how the program’s going to work, and you have to have a complete grasp of how the various pieces of the program work together. The finest pieces of software are those where one individual has a complete sense of exactly how the program works. To have that, you have to really love the program and concentrate on keeping it simple, to an incredible degree." This line alone demonstrates he was a good coder.

adventured 13y ago
Paul Allen has said that Bill's particular gift when it came to programming was the ability to find the way to get to the needed outcome in the absolute fewest lines of code necessary.
- brooksbp 13y ago
  Sometimes that approach is good. And then sometimes, after a decade of misuse, it just leads to a nightmare of a codebase.
  - kamaal 13y ago
    Yet, being first to the market has ensured he made billions. The definition of 'useful' and 'beautiful' varies based on circumstances.
jevinskie 13y ago
He was concerned about how C allowed such "vast" programs that the developers couldn't comprehend the whole systems (even referencing > 4 KB code!). This was in 1986. No wonder I have so much trouble comprehending a moderately-sized, modern application written in C++.
jevinskie 13y ago
He was concerned about how C allowed such "vast" programs that the developers couldn't comprehend the whole systems (even referencing > 4 KB code!). This was in 1986. No wonder I have so much trouble comprehending a moderately-sized, modern application written in C++.