Best programming and hacker quotes. Ever.
Curated by fellow hackers Jarmo Pertman & Andri Möll
[The common definition of estimate is] "An estimate is the most optimistic prediction that has a non-zero probability of coming true" . . . Accepting this definition leads irrevocably toward a method called what's-the-earliest- date-by-which-you-can't-prove-you-won't-be- finished estimating.
Tom DeMarco
I couldn't resist the temptation to put in a null reference, simply because it was so easy to implement. This has led to innumerable errors, vulnerabilities, and system crashes, which have probably caused a billion dollars of pain and damage in the last forty years.
Tony (C.A.R.) Hoare
The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents.
Nathaniel Borenstein
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human history, with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.
Mitch Ratcliffe
Recursion is the root of computation since it trades description for time.
Alan J. Perlis
Testing like the TSA.
David Heinemeier Hansson on testing too much
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.
Isaac Asimov
I don't care if it works on your machine! We are not shipping your machine!
Ovidiu Platon
If Java had true garbage collection, most programs would delete themselves upon execution.
Robert Sewell
Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.
From SICP