Best programming and hacker quotes. Ever.
Curated by fellow hackers Jarmo Pertman & Andri Möll
Systems have sub-systems and sub-systems have sub- systems and so on ad infinitum - which is why we're always starting over.
Alan J. Perlis
To understand a program you must become both the machine and the program.
Alan J. Perlis
As soon as you agree on the number of spaces for indentation, no-one argues for tabs.
Alvar Lumberg
Recursion is the root of computation since it trades description for time.
Alan J. Perlis
If our customers wanted a product that worked that way, tell them to purchase a product that works that way.
Anonymous
The eleventh commandment was "Thou Shalt Compute" or "Thou Shalt Not Compute" - I forget which.
Alan J. Perlis
You can have a negative percent chance of succeeding in a task. For example, if you have a -5% chance of succeeding, not only will you fail every time you make an attempt, you will also fail 1 in 20 times that you don't even try.
Anonymous
The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
Anonymous
All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer.
IBM Manual, 1925
The function name should define everything the function does.
Anonymous