Best programming and hacker quotes. Ever.
Curated by fellow hackers Jarmo Pertman & Andri Möll
We have the mini and the micro computer. In what semantic niche would the pico computer fall?
Alan J. Perlis
The primary duty of an exception handler is to get the error out of the lap of the programmer and into the surprised face of the user. Provided you keep this cardinal rule in mind, you can't go far wrong.
Verity Stob
Any set of procedures, no matter how well intentioned or useful, that are too difficult to follow, will be circumvented.
Ravera's First Law of System Administration
Sometimes I think the only universal in the computing field is the fetch-execute cycle.
Alan J. Perlis
There are only 3 numbers of interest to a computer scientist: 1, 0 and infinity.
Anonymous
Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.
Rich Kulawiec
The cybernetic exchange between man, computer and algorithm is like a game of musical chairs: The frantic search for balance always leaves one of the three standing ill at ease.
Alan J. Perlis
As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.
Dave Parnas
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Shakespeare
Good programmers learn more from "That's not what I expected!" than from getting it right the first time.
Anonymous