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
Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a
computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it
transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our
most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
-- Edsger Dijkstra, CACM, 15:10
The lesson of the story might appear to be that self-interested and
ambitious people in power are often the cause of wastefulness in
developing countries. But self-interested and ambitious people are in
positions of power, great and small, all over the world. In many places,
they are restrained by the law, the press, and democratic opposition.
Cameroon's tragedy is that there is nothing to hold self-interest in
check.
-- Tim Harford
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary
words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a
drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary
parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or
avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word
tell.
-- William Strunk, Jr. (The Elements of Style)
A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longuer anything to add, but when there is no longuer anything to take
away.
-- Antoine de St Exupery.
The venerable master Qc Na was walking with his student, Anton. Hoping to
prompt the master into a discussion, Anton said "Master, I have heard that
objects are a very good thing - is this true?" Qc Na looked pityingly at
his student and replied, "Foolish pupil - objects are merely a poor man's
closures."
Chastised, Anton took his leave from his master and returned to his cell,
intent on studying closures. He carefully read the entire "Lambda: The
Ultimate..." series of papers and its cousins, and implemented a small
Scheme interpreter with a closure-based object system. He learned much, and
looked forward to informing his master of his progress.
On his next walk with Qc Na, Anton attempted to impress his master by
saying "Master, I have diligently studied the matter, and now understand
that objects are truly a poor man's closures." Qc Na responded by hitting
Anton with his stick, saying "When will you learn? Closures are a poor man's
object." At that moment, Anton became enlightened.
-- Anton van Straaten (Na = Norman Adams, Qa = Christian Queinnec)
The reason to do animation is caricature. Good caricature picks out the
essense of the statement and removes everything else. It's not simply
about reproducing reality; It's about bumping it up.
-- Brad Bird, writer and director, The Incredibles
We really have to get over the idea that some stuff is just worth
knowing even if you never do anything with it. Human memories happily
erase stuff that has no purpose, so why try to fill up children's heads
with such stuff?
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education
A hacker on a roll may be able to produce–in a period of a few
months–something that a small development group (say, 7-8 people) would
have a hard time getting together over a year. IBM used to report that
certain programmers might be as much as 100 times as productive as other
workers, or more.
-- Peter Seebach
Ce n'est que par les relations qu'on entretient entre nos différentes
connaissances qu'elles nous restent accessibles.
-- Shnuup, sur l'hypertexte (SELFHTML -> Introduction -> Definitions sur l'hypertexte)
In OO, it's the data that is the "important" thing: you define the class
which contains member data, and only incidentally contains code for
manipulating the object. In FP, it's the code that's important: you
define a function which contains code for working with the data, and
only incidentally define what the data is.
-- almkgor, on reddit
Sometimes a man with too broad a perspective reveals himself as having
no real perspective at all. A man who tries too hard to see every side
may be a man who is trying to avoid choosing any side. A man who tries
too hard to seek a deeper truth may be trying to hide from the truth he
already knows. That is not a sign of intellectual sophistication and
"great thinking". It is a demonstration of moral degeneracy and
cowardice.
-- Steven Den Beste
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should therefore be
regarded as a criminal offense.
-- E.W. Dijkstra
Good work is no done by ‘humble’ men.
-- H. Hardy, A mathematician's apology.
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
-- Mark Twain
Making All Software Into Tools Reduces Risk.
-- smoothspan.com
If something isn’t working, you need to look back and figure out what
got you excited in the first place.
-- David Gorman (ImThere.com)
If there is a will, there is a way.
-- unknown
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
Remember that you are humans in the first place and only after that
programmers.
-- Alexandru Vancea
Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a
computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it
transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our
most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
-- Edsger Dijkstra, CACM, 15:10
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
-- Alexander Pope
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
-- Albert Einstein
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
-- Albert Einstein
The lesson of the story might appear to be that self-interested and
ambitious people in power are often the cause of wastefulness in
developing countries. But self-interested and ambitious people are in
positions of power, great and small, all over the world. In many places,
they are restrained by the law, the press, and democratic opposition.
Cameroon's tragedy is that there is nothing to hold self-interest in
check.
-- Tim Harford
The most damaging phrase in the language is, It's always been done that
way.
-- Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary
words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a
drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary
parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or
avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word
tell.
-- William Strunk, Jr. (The Elements of Style)
I guess, when you're drunk, every woman looks beautiful and every
language looks (like) a Lisp :)
-- Lament, #scheme@freenode.net
A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longuer anything to add, but when there is no longuer anything to take
away.
-- Antoine de St Exupery.
The venerable master Qc Na was walking with his student, Anton. Hoping to
prompt the master into a discussion, Anton said "Master, I have heard that
objects are a very good thing - is this true?" Qc Na looked pityingly at
his student and replied, "Foolish pupil - objects are merely a poor man's
closures."
Chastised, Anton took his leave from his master and returned to his cell,
intent on studying closures. He carefully read the entire "Lambda: The
Ultimate..." series of papers and its cousins, and implemented a small
Scheme interpreter with a closure-based object system. He learned much, and
looked forward to informing his master of his progress.
On his next walk with Qc Na, Anton attempted to impress his master by
saying "Master, I have diligently studied the matter, and now understand
that objects are truly a poor man's closures." Qc Na responded by hitting
Anton with his stick, saying "When will you learn? Closures are a poor man's
object." At that moment, Anton became enlightened.
-- Anton van Straaten (Na = Norman Adams, Qa = Christian Queinnec)
The reason to do animation is caricature. Good caricature picks out the
essense of the statement and removes everything else. It's not simply
about reproducing reality; It's about bumping it up.
-- Brad Bird, writer and director, The Incredibles
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)
We really have to get over the idea that some stuff is just worth
knowing even if you never do anything with it. Human memories happily
erase stuff that has no purpose, so why try to fill up children's heads
with such stuff?
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education
Acknowledging the negative doesn't mean sniveling [whining, complaining]; it
means facing the truth and then moving on.
-- George Leonard, Mastery.
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which
matter least.
-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
A hacker on a roll may be able to produce–in a period of a few
months–something that a small development group (say, 7-8 people) would
have a hard time getting together over a year. IBM used to report that
certain programmers might be as much as 100 times as productive as other
workers, or more.
-- Peter Seebach
Normality is the route to nowhere.
-- Ridderstrale & Nordstorm, Funky Business
There really is no learning without doing.
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education
There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire
just might be procrastination.
-- Hara Estroff Marano.
Ce n'est que par les relations qu'on entretient entre nos différentes
connaissances qu'elles nous restent accessibles.
-- Shnuup, sur l'hypertexte (SELFHTML -> Introduction -> Definitions sur l'hypertexte)
There is one meaning [for static in C]: a global variable that is
invisible outside the current scope, be it a function or a file.
-- Paolo Bonzini
In OO, it's the data that is the "important" thing: you define the class
which contains member data, and only incidentally contains code for
manipulating the object. In FP, it's the code that's important: you
define a function which contains code for working with the data, and
only incidentally define what the data is.
-- almkgor, on reddit
Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it)
in programming.
-- Donald Knuth
You can have premature generalization as well as premature optimization.
-- Bjarne Stroustrup
All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of
indirection.
-- Butler Lampson
We will never become a truly paper-less society until the Palm Pilot
folks come out with WipeMe 1.0.
-- Andy Pierson
Sometimes a man with too broad a perspective reveals himself as having
no real perspective at all. A man who tries too hard to see every side
may be a man who is trying to avoid choosing any side. A man who tries
too hard to seek a deeper truth may be trying to hide from the truth he
already knows. That is not a sign of intellectual sophistication and
"great thinking". It is a demonstration of moral degeneracy and
cowardice.
-- Steven Den Beste
The problem is that Microsoft just has no taste. And I don't mean that
in a small way, I mean that in a big way.
-- Steve Jobs
Making All Software Into Tools Reduces Risk.
-- smoothspan.com
Be the change you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
Omit needless words.
-- William Strunk, Jr. (The Elements of Style)
You can’t get to version 500 if you don’t start with a version 1.
-- BetterExplained.com