“Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.”
“Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born.” |
Alan Kay (Computer Scientist, pioneering work on object-oriented programming) |
“A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.”
“Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.”
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” |
Alan Turing (Computer Scientist, widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence) |
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” |
Albert Einstein (Scientist theoretical physicist) |
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” |
Arthur C. Clarke (Science writer, futurist and inventor) |
“Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.”
“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.” |
Bill Gates (American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist and founder of Microsoft) |
“I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone.” “C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do it blows your whole leg off.”
“Clearly, I reject the view that there is one way that is right for everyone and for every problem.”
“A program that has not been tested does not work.” |
Bjarne Stroustrup is a Danish computer scientist, most notable for the creation and development of the widely used C++ programming language |
“This is the whole point of technology. It creates an appetite for immortality on the one hand. It threatens universal extinction on the other. Technology is lust removed from nature.” |
Don DeLillo (Author American novelist, playwright and essayist) |
“It’s not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and yes, beauty to people’s lives.”
“A brilliant solution to the wrong problem can be worse than no solution at all: solve the correct problem.” |
Don Norman (Co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group, former VP of Research at Apple Computer and author of The Design of Everyday Things.) |
“First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we’ve realized it’s a brochure.”
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” |
Douglas Adams (Author, scriptwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist.) |
“Raise your quality standards as high as you can live with, avoid wasting your time on routine problems, and always try to work as closely as possible at the boundary of your abilities. Do this, because it is the only way of discovering how that boundary should be moved foward.” |
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (Computer scientist and an early pioneer in many research areas of computing science. Turing Award Winner) |
“Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen.” |
Edward V. Berard is an American software engineer and consultant for The Object Agency, Inc. |
“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” |
Elbert Hubbard (writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher) |
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” |
Elon Musk (Business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor.) |
“If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.” |
Grace Hopper (American computer scientist, a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first compilers. She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL.) |
“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” |
Harold Abelson (Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, a fellow of the IEEE, and a founding director of both Creative Commons and the Free Software Foundation) |
“Hardware: the parts of a computer that can be kicked.” |
Jeff Pesis |
“Technology frightens me to death. It’s designed by engineers to impress other engineers. And they always come with instruction booklets that are written by engineers for other engineers — which is why almost no technology ever works.” |
John Cleese (actor, voice actor, screenwriter, producer, and comedian) |
“It doesn't matter what you know, what matters is when you know” |
Kathy Sierra (born 1957) is an American programming instructor and game developer. |
“Perl – The only language that looks the same before and after RSA encryption.” |
Keith Bostic is an American Software Engineer and one of the key people in the history of Berkeley Software Distribution UNIX and Open Source software. |
“One of my most productive days was throwing away 1000 lines of code.” |
Ken Thompson (computer scientist, early developer of UNIX OS) |
“It is easier to port a shell than a shell script.”
“Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.” |
Larry Wall is a computer programmer and author. He created the Perl programming language. |
“Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.”
“Software is like sex; it's better when it's free.”
“Artists usually don't make all that much money, and they often keep their artistic hobby despite the money rather than due to it.”
“I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.”
“Talk is cheap. Show me the code.” |
Linus Torvalds (Finnish American, software engineer and hacker, principal force behind the development of the Linux kernel) |
“If McDonalds were run like a software company, one out of every hundred Big Macs would give you food poisoning, and the response would be, ‘We’re sorry, here’s a coupon for two more.’” |
Mark Minasi (Author/speaker/consultant at MR&D) |
“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” |
Martin Golding |
“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” |
Martin Fowler (author and speaker on software development) |
“If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.” |
Omar Bradley (General, US Army) |
“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” |
Pablo Picasso (painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright) |
“To iterate is human, to recurse divine.” |
Peter Deutsch is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript and PDF interpreter. |
“People said I should accept the world. Bullshit! I don't accept the world.“ |
Richard Stallman launched the GNU Project to create a Unix-like computer operating system composed entirely of free software |
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.” |
Rick Cook is a light fantasy author, best known for his Wizardry series of books. |
“Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.”
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
“Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.” |
Steve Jobs (Former co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc) |
“Good code is its own best documentation. As you’re about to add a comment, ask yourself, ‘How can I improve the code so that this comment isn’t needed?'” |
Steve McConnell (author of many software engineering books including “Code Complete”) |
“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.” |
Sydney Harris (Journalist for the Chicago Daily News and, later, the Chicago Sun-Times) |
“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. The first method is far more difficult.” |
Tony Hoare (British computer scientist, winner of the 1980 Turing Award) |
“I don't care if it works on your machine! We are not shipping your machine!” |
Vidiu Platon |