La haine est une liqueur précieuse, un poison plus cher que celui des
Borgia, - car il est fait avec notre sang, notre santé, notre sommeil,
et les deux tiers de notre amour! Il faut en être avare!
-- Charles Baudelaire, Conseils aux jeunes littérateurs.
Workers of the world, the chains that bind you are not held in place by
a ruling class, a "superior" race, by society, the state, or a leader.
They are held in place by none other than yourself. Those who seek to
exploit are not themselves free, for they place no value in freedom. Who
is it that really employs you and commands you to pick up your daily
load? And who is it that you allow to pass judgment on the adequacy of
your toil? Who have you empowered to dangle the carrot before you and
threaten with disapproval? Who, when you wake each morning, sends you
off to what you call your work?
Is there an "I want to" behind all your "I have to," or have you been so
long forgotten to yourself that "I want" exists only as an idea in your
head? If you have disconnected from your soul's desire and are drowning
in an ocean of "have to," then rise up and overthrow your master. Begin
the journey toward emancipation. Work only in such a way that you are
truly self-employed.
-- Tim Gallwey, The inner game of work
I think that a lot of programmers are ignoring an important point when
people talk about reducing code repetition on large projects.
Part of the idea is that large projects are intrinsically wrong. That
you should be looking at making a number of smaller projects that are
composable, even if you never end up reusing one of those smaller
projects elsewhere.
-- Dan Nugent
Being a programmer is the same way. The only way to be a good programmer
is to write code. When you realize you haven't been writing much code
lately, and it seems like all you do is brag about code you wrote in the
past, and people start looking at you funny while you're shooting your
mouth off, realize it's because they know. They might not even know they
know, but they know. So, yes, doing what you love brings success, and by
all means, throw yourself a nice big party, buy yourself a nice car,
soak up the adulation of an adoring crowd. Then shut the fuck up and get
back to work.
-- Sincerity Theory
It’s a problem if the design doesn’t let you add features at a later
date. If you have to redo a program, the hours you spend can cause you
to lose your competitive edge. A flexible program demonstrates the
difference between a good designer and someone who is just getting a
piece of code out.
-- Gary Kildall (inventor of CP/M, one of the first OS for the micro).
What do Americans look for in a car? I've heard many answers when I've
asked this question. The answers include excellent safety ratings, great
gas mileage, handling, and cornering ability, among others. I don't
believe any of these. That's because the first principle of the Culture
Code is that the only effective way to understand what people truly mean
is to ignore what they say. This is not to suggest that people
intentionally lie or misrepresent themselves. What it means is that,
when asked direct questions about their interests and preferences,
people tend to give answers they believe the questioner wants to hear.
Again, this is not because they intend to mislead. It is because people
respond to these questions with their cortexes, the parts of their
brains that control intelligence rather than emotion or instinct. They
ponder a question, they process a question, and when they deliver an
answer, it is the product of deliberation. They believe they are telling
the truth. A lie detector would confirm this. In most cases, however,
they aren't saying what they mean.
-- The culture code.
To do something well you have to love it. So to the extent you can
preserve hacking as something you love, you're likely to do it well. Try
to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. If
you're worried that your current job is rotting your brain, it probably
is.
-- Paul Graham.
Humans differ from animals to the degree that they are not merely an end
result of their conditioning, but are able to reflect on their
experiences and strategies, and apply insight to make changes in the way
they live to modify the outcome.
-- SlideTrombone (comment on "Programming can ruin your life")
That is the inevitable human response. We’re reluctant to believe that
great discoveries are in the air. We want to believe that great
discoveries are in our heads—and to each party in the multiple the
presence of the other party is invariably cause for suspicion.
-- Malcolm Gladwell, Who says big ideas are rare?
The general principle for complexity design is this: Think locally, act
locally.
-- Richard P. Gabriel & Ron Goldman, Mob Software: The Erotic Life of Code
The best people and organizations have the attitude of wisdom: The
courage to act on what they know right now and the humility to change
course when they find better evidence.
The quest for management magic and breakthrough ideas is overrated;
being a master of the obvious is underrated.
Jim Maloney is right: Work is an overrated activity
-- Bob Sutton
Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any
more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert
painter.
-- Eric Raymond
La haine est une liqueur précieuse, un poison plus cher que celui des
Borgia, - car il est fait avec notre sang, notre santé, notre sommeil,
et les deux tiers de notre amour! Il faut en être avare!
-- Charles Baudelaire, Conseils aux jeunes littérateurs.
Workers of the world, the chains that bind you are not held in place by
a ruling class, a "superior" race, by society, the state, or a leader.
They are held in place by none other than yourself. Those who seek to
exploit are not themselves free, for they place no value in freedom. Who
is it that really employs you and commands you to pick up your daily
load? And who is it that you allow to pass judgment on the adequacy of
your toil? Who have you empowered to dangle the carrot before you and
threaten with disapproval? Who, when you wake each morning, sends you
off to what you call your work?
Is there an "I want to" behind all your "I have to," or have you been so
long forgotten to yourself that "I want" exists only as an idea in your
head? If you have disconnected from your soul's desire and are drowning
in an ocean of "have to," then rise up and overthrow your master. Begin
the journey toward emancipation. Work only in such a way that you are
truly self-employed.
-- Tim Gallwey, The inner game of work
The programmer must seek both perfection of part and adequacy of
collection.
-- Alan J. Perlis
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's
a duck.
-- Official definition of "duck typing"
I think that a lot of programmers are ignoring an important point when
people talk about reducing code repetition on large projects.
Part of the idea is that large projects are intrinsically wrong. That
you should be looking at making a number of smaller projects that are
composable, even if you never end up reusing one of those smaller
projects elsewhere.
-- Dan Nugent
Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot.
If you compete with slaves you become a slave.
-- Paul Graham and Norbert Weiner, respectively
Being a programmer is the same way. The only way to be a good programmer
is to write code. When you realize you haven't been writing much code
lately, and it seems like all you do is brag about code you wrote in the
past, and people start looking at you funny while you're shooting your
mouth off, realize it's because they know. They might not even know they
know, but they know. So, yes, doing what you love brings success, and by
all means, throw yourself a nice big party, buy yourself a nice car,
soak up the adulation of an adoring crowd. Then shut the fuck up and get
back to work.
-- Sincerity Theory
It’s a problem if the design doesn’t let you add features at a later
date. If you have to redo a program, the hours you spend can cause you
to lose your competitive edge. A flexible program demonstrates the
difference between a good designer and someone who is just getting a
piece of code out.
-- Gary Kildall (inventor of CP/M, one of the first OS for the micro).
The programmer must seek both perfection of part and adequacy of
collection.
-- Alan J. Perlis
The best is the enemy of the good.
-- Voltaire
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
-- Albert Einstein
C++ is history repeated as tragedy. Java is history repeated as farce.
-- Scott McKay
Processors don't get better so that they can have more free time.
Processors get better so you can have more free time.
-- LeCamarade (freeshells.ch)
Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.
-- Ralph Johnson
What do Americans look for in a car? I've heard many answers when I've
asked this question. The answers include excellent safety ratings, great
gas mileage, handling, and cornering ability, among others. I don't
believe any of these. That's because the first principle of the Culture
Code is that the only effective way to understand what people truly mean
is to ignore what they say. This is not to suggest that people
intentionally lie or misrepresent themselves. What it means is that,
when asked direct questions about their interests and preferences,
people tend to give answers they believe the questioner wants to hear.
Again, this is not because they intend to mislead. It is because people
respond to these questions with their cortexes, the parts of their
brains that control intelligence rather than emotion or instinct. They
ponder a question, they process a question, and when they deliver an
answer, it is the product of deliberation. They believe they are telling
the truth. A lie detector would confirm this. In most cases, however,
they aren't saying what they mean.
-- The culture code.
The only constant in the world of hi-tech is change.
-- Mark Ward
A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is
not worth knowing.
-- Alan Perlis
Simplicity and pragmatism beat complexity and theory any day.
-- Dennis (blog comment)
In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice. But in
practice, there is.
-- Albert Einstein
To do something well you have to love it. So to the extent you can
preserve hacking as something you love, you're likely to do it well. Try
to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. If
you're worried that your current job is rotting your brain, it probably
is.
-- Paul Graham.
The best is the enemy of the good.
-- Voltaire
Humans differ from animals to the degree that they are not merely an end
result of their conditioning, but are able to reflect on their
experiences and strategies, and apply insight to make changes in the way
they live to modify the outcome.
-- SlideTrombone (comment on "Programming can ruin your life")
That is the inevitable human response. We’re reluctant to believe that
great discoveries are in the air. We want to believe that great
discoveries are in our heads—and to each party in the multiple the
presence of the other party is invariably cause for suspicion.
-- Malcolm Gladwell, Who says big ideas are rare?
It is better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open your mouth and
remove all doubt.
-- WikiHow
Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.
-- Dr. Koichi Kawana
All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.
-- Joel Spolsky (The Law of Leaky Abstractions)
The general principle for complexity design is this: Think locally, act
locally.
-- Richard P. Gabriel & Ron Goldman, Mob Software: The Erotic Life of Code
The best people and organizations have the attitude of wisdom: The
courage to act on what they know right now and the humility to change
course when they find better evidence.
The quest for management magic and breakthrough ideas is overrated;
being a master of the obvious is underrated.
Jim Maloney is right: Work is an overrated activity
-- Bob Sutton
The function of good software is to make the complex appear to be
simple.
-- Grady Booch
If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming
high enough.
-- Alan Kay
Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any
more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert
painter.
-- Eric Raymond
The only constant in the world of hi-tech is change.
-- Mark Ward