Best programming and hacker quotes. Ever.
Curated by fellow hackers Jarmo Pertman & Andri Möll
It is the user who should parameterize procedures, not their creators.
Alan J. Perlis
The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.
Oswald Chambers
It’s hard to read through a book on the principles of magic without glancing at the cover periodically to make sure it isn’t a book on software design.
Bruce Tognazzini
C trades a slap on the wrist at compile time for a knife in the back at run time.
Anonymous
When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.
Alan J. Perlis
If at first you don't succeed, try/catch, try/catch again.
Anonymous
FORTRAN was the language of choice for the same reason that three-legged races are popular.
Ken Thompson
Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.
Jamie Zawinski
Mostly, when you see programmers, they aren't doing anything. One of the attractive things about programmers is that you cannot tell whether or not they are working simply by looking at them. Very often they're sitting there seemingly drinking coffee and gossiping, or just staring into space. What the programmer is trying to do is get a handle on all the individual and unrelated ideas that are scampering around in his head.
Charles M Strauss
Anyone who considers arithmetic methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.
John von Neumann