We have come through a strange cycle in programming, starting with the creation of programming itself as a human activity. Executives with the tiniest smattering of knowledge assume that anyone can write a program, and only now are programmers beginning to win their battle for recognition as true professionals. Not just anyone, with any background, or any training, can do a fine job of programming. Programmers know this, but then why is it that they think that anyone picked off the street can do documentation? One has only to spend an hour looking at papers written by graduate students to realize the extent to which the ability to communicate is not universally held. And so, when we speak about computer program documentation, we are not speaking about the psychology of computer programming at all - except insofar as programmers have the illusion that anyone can do a good job of documentation, provided he is not smart enough to be a programmer.
|
The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs.
|
It is a cliche in our business that the first 90 percent of the work is easy, the second 90 percent wears you down, and the last 90 percent - the attention to detail - makes a good product.
|
Anybody who's studied software engineering knows that a schedule which underestimates the time needed to develop a project actually makes the project take longer.
|
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING, VII: Program complexity grows until it exceeds the capabilities of the programmer who must maintain it.
|
If the programmer can simulate a construct faster then the compiler can implement the construct itself, then the compiler writer has blown it badly.
|
While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that you get an A not for effort but for results [...]
|
The three principle virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris.
|
Profanity is the one language all programmers know best.
|