Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir
de la faire plus courte. (I have made this letter so long only because I
did not have the leisure to make it shorter.)
-- Blaise Pascal (Lettres Provinciales)
We now come to the decisive step of mathematical abstraction: we forget
about what the symbols stand for. ...[The mathematician] need not be
idle; there are many operations which he may carry out with these
symbols, without ever having to look at the things they stand for.
-- Hermann Weyl, The Mathematical Way of Thinking
Hence my urgent advice to all of you to reject the morals of the
bestseller society and to find, to start with, your reward in your own
fun. This is quite feasible, for the challenge of simplification is so
fascinating that, if we do our job properly, we shall have the greatest
fun in the world.
-- E. W. Dijkstra, On the nature of computing science.
Well, if you talk about programming to a group of programmers who use
the same language, they can become almost evangelistic about the
language. They form a tight-knit community, hold to certain beliefs, and
follow certain rules in their programming. It’s like a church with a
programming language for a Bible.
-- Gary Kildall (inventor of CP/M, one of the first OS for the micro).
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).
You have to write for your audience. I would never write (1..5).map
&'*2' in Java when I could write
ListFactoryFactory.getListFactoryFromResource(
new ResourceName('com.javax.magnitudes.integers').
setLowerBound(1).setUpperBound(5).setStep(1).applyFunctor(
new Functor () { public void eval (x) { return x * 2; } }))
I'm simplifying, of course, I've left out the security and logging
wrappers.
-- Reginald Braithwait
Opportunities that present themselves to you are the consequence -- at
least partially -- of being in the right place at the right time. They
tend to present themselves when you're not expecting it -- and often
when you are engaged in other activities that would seem to preclude you
from pursuing them. And they come and go quickly -- if you don't jump
all over an opportunity, someone else generally will and it will vanish.
-- Marc Andreessen (http://blog.pmarca.com/)
What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition
wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it.
It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid
asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got
so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way
you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you
don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will.
-- Paul Graham
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in
God.
-- Alan J. Perlis (Epigrams in programming)
No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to
excel in it.
-- Alberti
Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir
de la faire plus courte. (I have made this letter so long only because I
did not have the leisure to make it shorter.)
-- Blaise Pascal (Lettres Provinciales)
We now come to the decisive step of mathematical abstraction: we forget
about what the symbols stand for. ...[The mathematician] need not be
idle; there are many operations which he may carry out with these
symbols, without ever having to look at the things they stand for.
-- Hermann Weyl, The Mathematical Way of Thinking
Hence my urgent advice to all of you to reject the morals of the
bestseller society and to find, to start with, your reward in your own
fun. This is quite feasible, for the challenge of simplification is so
fascinating that, if we do our job properly, we shall have the greatest
fun in the world.
-- E. W. Dijkstra, On the nature of computing science.
Well, if you talk about programming to a group of programmers who use
the same language, they can become almost evangelistic about the
language. They form a tight-knit community, hold to certain beliefs, and
follow certain rules in their programming. It’s like a church with a
programming language for a Bible.
-- Gary Kildall (inventor of CP/M, one of the first OS for the micro).
In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all.
-- George Leonard, Mastery.
We will never become a truly paper-less society until the Palm Pilot
folks come out with WipeMe 1.0.
-- Andy Pierson
The three chief virtues of a programmer are: Laziness, Impatience and
Hubris.
-- Larry Wall (Programming Perl)
Ce n’est que par les beaux sentiments qu’on parvient à la fortune !
-- Charles Baudelaire, Conseils aux jeunes littérateurs.
What is truth?
-- Pontius Pilate
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).
To iterate is human, to recurse divine.
-- L. Peter Deutsch
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and the unrighteous.
-- Matthew 5:45
Within a computer natural language is unnatural.
-- Alan J. Perlis (Epigrams in programming)
Good programmers use their brains, but good guidelines save us having to
think out every case.
-- Francis Glassborow
Are you willing to wear your white belt?
-- George Leonard, Mastery.
I invented the term Object-Oriented, and I can tell you I did not have
C++ in mind.
-- Alan Kay
Measure everything you can about the product, and you'll start seeing
patterns.
-- Max Levchin, PayPal founder, Talk at StartupSchool2007
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a
while, you could miss it.
-- Ferris Bueller
We will never become a truly paper-less society until the Palm Pilot
folks come out with WipeMe 1.0.
-- Andy Pierson
You have to write for your audience. I would never write (1..5).map
&'*2' in Java when I could write
ListFactoryFactory.getListFactoryFromResource(
new ResourceName('com.javax.magnitudes.integers').
setLowerBound(1).setUpperBound(5).setStep(1).applyFunctor(
new Functor () { public void eval (x) { return x * 2; } }))
I'm simplifying, of course, I've left out the security and logging
wrappers.
-- Reginald Braithwait
There really is no learning without doing.
-- Roger Schank, Engines for Education
Everybody makes their own fun. If you don't make it yourself, it ain't
fun -- it's entertainment.
-- David Mamet (as relayed by Joss Whedon)
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
-- John Lennon
Opportunities that present themselves to you are the consequence -- at
least partially -- of being in the right place at the right time. They
tend to present themselves when you're not expecting it -- and often
when you are engaged in other activities that would seem to preclude you
from pursuing them. And they come and go quickly -- if you don't jump
all over an opportunity, someone else generally will and it will vanish.
-- Marc Andreessen (http://blog.pmarca.com/)
No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to
excel in it.
-- Alberti
Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it)
in programming.
-- Donald Knuth
Attitude is no substitute for competence.
-- Eric S. Raymond, How to become a hacker
What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition
wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it.
It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid
asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got
so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way
you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you
don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will.
-- Paul Graham
Good artists copy. Great artists steal.
-- Pablo Picasso
In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all.
-- George Leonard, Mastery.