CodeQuotes » Development Process

Subramaniam on simple solutions

Neal Enssle — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:34:20 +0000

“The reason I prefer simple solutions is not my desire for elegance or simplicity but my inability to comprehend complexity.”

— Venkat Subramaniam, Twitter, 8/11/2010

McConnell on readability

Neal Enssle — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:02:30 +0000

“Making code readable is not an optional part of the development process, and favoring write-time convenience over read-time convenience is a false economy.”

— Steve McConnell, Code Complete

M. Feathers Art of programming

Neal Enssle — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:00:28 +0000

“The Art of Programming is doing one !@%^$ thing at a time.”

— Michael Feathers, Twitter, 5/11/2010

Gandalf on wisdom

Neal Enssle — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:01:09 +0000

“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”

— Gandalf the Grey, J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring”

Fred Brooks on specifications

Neal Enssle — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:11:48 +0000

“Even perfect program verification can only establish that a program meets its specification…. Much of the essence of building a program is in fact the debugging of the specification.”

— Fred Brooks, No Silver Bullet

Fowler on ugly code

Neal Enssle — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:19:52 +0000

“Even so the program works. Is this not just an aesthetic judgment, a dislike of ugly code? It is until we want to change the system. The compiler doesn’t care whether the code is ugly or clean. But when we change the system, there is a human involved, and humans do care. A poorly designed system is hard to change. Hard because it is hard to figure out where the changes are needed. If it is hard to figure out what to change, there is a strong chance that the programmer will make a mistake and introduce bugs.”

— Martin Fowler, Refactoring

Beck: Methodologies

Neal Enssle — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:26:51 +0000

“All methodologies are based on fear.”

— Kent Beck

Lister: Think Faster

Neal Enssle — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:42:33 +0000

“People under time pressure don’t think faster.”

— Tom Lister

Berkun: Calling bullshit

Neal Enssle — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:03:07 +0000

“Calling ‘bullshit’ makes things happen. If people expect you will ask them tough questions, and not hesitate to push them hard until you get answers, they will prepare for them before they meet with you. They will not waste your or your teams’ time.”

— Scott Berkun, The Art of Project Management

McDougall: Managing vs. leading

Neal Enssle — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 10:36:52 +0000

“Managing is about systems and processes and resources; leading is about achievement and vision.”

— Peter McDougall