This challenge, viz. the confrontation with the programming task, is so unique that this novel experience can teach us a lot about ourselves. It should deepen our understanding of the processes of design and creation, it should give us better control over the task of organizing our thoughts. If it did not do so, to my taste we should no deserve the computer at all! It has allready taught us a few lessons, and the one I have chosen to stress in this talk is the following. We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremenduous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsec limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers. -- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer
Side projects are less masturbatory than reading RSS, often more useful than MobileMe, more educational than the comments on Reddit, and usually more fun than listening to keynotes. -- Chris Wanstrath
Everything that can be invented has been invented. -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899
Within a computer natural language is unnatural. -- Alan J. Perlis (Epigrams in programming)
C++ is history repeated as tragedy. Java is history repeated as farce. -- Scott McKay
Programming is the art of figuring out what you want so precisely that even a machine can do it. -- Some guy who isn't famous
No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.~ Anonymous
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. ~George Bernard Shaw
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. –Amelia Earhart
Either you run the day, or the day runs you. –Jim Rohn