It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible
to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with
such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years.
-- John Von Neumann, circa 1949
A CS professor once explained recursion as follows:
A child couldn't sleep, so her mother told her a story about a little frog,
who couldn't sleep, so the frog's mother told her a story about a little bear,
who couldn't sleep, so the bear's mother told her a story about a little weasel...
who fell asleep.
...and the little bear fell asleep;
...and the little frog fell asleep;
...and the child fell asleep.
-- everything2.com
Side projects are less masturbatory than reading RSS, often more
useful than MobileMe, more educational than the comments on Reddit,
and usually more fun than listening to keynotes.
-- Chris Wanstrath
La tactique, c'est ce que vous faites quand il y a quelque chose à
faire; la stratégie, c'est ce que vous faites quand il n'y a rien à
faire.
-- Xavier Tartacover
A person won't become proficient at something until he or she has done
it many times. In other words., if you want someone to be really good at
building a software system, he or she will have to have built 10 or more
systems of that type.
-- Philip Greenspun
This challenge, viz. the confrontation with the programming task, is so
unique that this novel experience can teach us a lot about ourselves. It
should deepen our understanding of the processes of design and creation,
it should give us better control over the task of organizing our
thoughts. If it did not do so, to my taste we should no deserve the
computer at all! It has allready taught us a few lessons, and the one I
have chosen to stress in this talk is the following. We shall do a much
better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full
appreciation of its tremenduous difficulty, provided that we stick to
modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the
intrinsec limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very
Humble Programmers.
-- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people
always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can
become great.
-- Mark Twain
La tactique, c'est ce que vous faites quand il y a quelque chose à
faire; la stratégie, c'est ce que vous faites quand il n'y a rien à
faire.
-- Xavier Tartacover
Quality of the people is better than the quality of the business idea.
Crappy people can screw up the best idea in the world.
-- Hadi Partovi & Ali Partovi (iLike.com), Talk at StartupSchool2007
You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write,
even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.
-- Alan J. Perlis (Epigrams in programming)
Students should be evaluated on how well they can achieve the goals they
strived to achieve within a realistic context. Students need to learn to
do things, not know things.
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education
The good thing about reinventing the wheel is that you get a round one.
-- Douglas Crockford (Author of JSON and JsLint)
Any code of your own that you haven’t looked at for six or more months
might as well have been written by someone else.
-- Eagleson’s Law
The good thing about reinventing the wheel is that you get a round one.
-- Douglas Crockford (Author of JSON and JsLint)
It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
-- Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Hopper
No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side. If you keep waiting, it
will comme up.
-- Randy Pausch
The hardest part of design ... is keeping features out.
-- Donald Norman
It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible
to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with
such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years.
-- John Von Neumann, circa 1949
Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
-- Randy Pausch
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's
a duck.
-- Official definition of "duck typing"
A CS professor once explained recursion as follows:
A child couldn't sleep, so her mother told her a story about a little frog,
who couldn't sleep, so the frog's mother told her a story about a little bear,
who couldn't sleep, so the bear's mother told her a story about a little weasel...
who fell asleep.
...and the little bear fell asleep;
...and the little frog fell asleep;
...and the child fell asleep.
-- everything2.com
Side projects are less masturbatory than reading RSS, often more
useful than MobileMe, more educational than the comments on Reddit,
and usually more fun than listening to keynotes.
-- Chris Wanstrath
Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder.
Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.
-- Erik Naggum
Resume writing is just like dating, or applying for a bank loan, in that
nobody wants you if you're desperate.
-- Steve Yegge.
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
-- Thomas Edison
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the
necessary may speak.
-- Hans Hofmann
La tactique, c'est ce que vous faites quand il y a quelque chose à
faire; la stratégie, c'est ce que vous faites quand il n'y a rien à
faire.
-- Xavier Tartacover
A person won't become proficient at something until he or she has done
it many times. In other words., if you want someone to be really good at
building a software system, he or she will have to have built 10 or more
systems of that type.
-- Philip Greenspun
Work as intensely as you play and play as intensely as you work.
-- Eric S. Raymond, How To Be A Hacker
I invented the term Object-Oriented, and I can tell you I did not have
C++ in mind.
-- Alan Kay
No problem should ever have to be solved twice.
-- Eric S. Raymond, How to become a hacker
I think there’s a world market for about 5 computers.
-- Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of the Board, IBM, circa 1948
Are you willing to wear your white belt?
-- George Leonard, Mastery.
Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.
-- Ralph Johnson
If there is a will, there is a way.
-- unknown
Work as intensely as you play and play as intensely as you work.
-- Eric S. Raymond, How To Be A Hacker
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
-- Elie Wiesel
This challenge, viz. the confrontation with the programming task, is so
unique that this novel experience can teach us a lot about ourselves. It
should deepen our understanding of the processes of design and creation,
it should give us better control over the task of organizing our
thoughts. If it did not do so, to my taste we should no deserve the
computer at all! It has allready taught us a few lessons, and the one I
have chosen to stress in this talk is the following. We shall do a much
better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full
appreciation of its tremenduous difficulty, provided that we stick to
modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the
intrinsec limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very
Humble Programmers.
-- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer
Premature abstraction is an equally grevious sin as premature
optimization.
-- Keith Devens
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people
always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can
become great.
-- Mark Twain
When your enemy is making a very serious mistake, don't be impolite and
disturb him.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte (allegedly)
La tactique, c'est ce que vous faites quand il y a quelque chose à
faire; la stratégie, c'est ce que vous faites quand il n'y a rien à
faire.
-- Xavier Tartacover
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Quality of the people is better than the quality of the business idea.
Crappy people can screw up the best idea in the world.
-- Hadi Partovi & Ali Partovi (iLike.com), Talk at StartupSchool2007
Omit needless words.
-- William Strunk, Jr. (The Elements of Style)
I invented the term Object-Oriented, and I can tell you I did not have
C++ in mind.
-- Alan Kay
The only thing a man should ever be 100% convinced of is his own
ignorance.
-- DJ MacLean
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a
violent psychopath who knows where you live.
-- Martin Golding
You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write,
even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.
-- Alan J. Perlis (Epigrams in programming)
A no uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a yes merely
uttered to please or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
Students should be evaluated on how well they can achieve the goals they
strived to achieve within a realistic context. Students need to learn to
do things, not know things.
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education