Archive for February, 2006
“Poor management can increase software costs more rapidly than any other factor.”
“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.”
“The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until it’s too late.”
“There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. ”
Occam’s Razor: “The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.”
“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.”
Brooks’ Law: “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
“All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy godmothers. Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations drive away all but those who habitually focus on the end goal. Perhaps it is merely that computers are young, programmers are younger, and the young are always optimists. But however the selection process works, the result is indisputable: ‘This time it will surely run,’ or ‘I just found the last bug.’”
“Human beings are not accustomed to being perfect, and few areas of human activity demand it. Adjusting to the requirement for perfection is, I think, the most difficult part of learning to program.”