The only problems we can really solve in a satisfactory manner are those that finally admit a nicely factored solution. -- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer
Work as intensely as you play and play as intensely as you work. -- Eric S. Raymond, How To Be A Hacker
Making All Software Into Tools Reduces Risk. -- smoothspan.com
The only problems we can really solve in a satisfactory manner are those that finally admit a nicely factored solution. -- E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer
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
The proof is by reductio ad absurdum, and reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician’s finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess gambit: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game. -- G. H. Hardy
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. ~Anonymous
I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. –Benjamin Franklin
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill