Best programming and hacker quotes. Ever.
Curated by fellow hackers Jarmo Pertman & Andri Möll
God is a hacker, not an engineer. You can do reverse engineering, but you can’t do reverse hacking.
Francis Crick
The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
Alan J. Perlis
... what society overwhelmingly asks for is snake oil. Of course, the snake oil has the most impressive names — otherwise you would be selling nothing — like "Structured Analysis and Design", "Software Engineering", "Maturity Models", "Management Information Systems", "Integrated Project Support Environments" "Object Orientation" and "Business Process Re-engineering" (the latter three being known as IPSE, OO and BPR, respectively).
Edsger W. Dijkstra
Programming can be fun, so can cryptography; however they should not be combined.
Kreitzberg and Shneiderman
When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
R. Buckminster Fuller
Startups almost never get it right the first time. Much more commonly you launch something, and no one cares. Don’t assume when this happens that you’ve failed. That’s normal for startups. But don’t sit around doing nothing. Iterate.
Paul Graham
Any fool can use a computer. Many do.
Ted Nelson
Often it is the means that justify the ends: Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.
Alan J. Perlis
You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
Alan J. Perlis
Program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of bugs, but is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence.
Edsger Dijkstra