Top 25 Programming Quotes of 176

There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.

There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.

John von Neumann

Talking, Programming, Knows

I'm doubtful about the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?

Lewis Carroll

Trying, Flamingos, Programming

Lewis Carroll (1869). “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, p.133

Talk is cheap. Show me the code.

Linus Torvalds

Coders, Linux, Programming

Linux kernel mailing list message, lkml.org. August 25, 2000.

For many phenomena, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes.

Joseph M. Juran

Causes, Programming, Stem

Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.

Alan Turing

Machines, Surprise, Programming

"Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Mind - A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy, Volume 59, No. 236, p. 450, 1950.

Code never lies, comments sometimes do.

Ron Jeffries

Lying, Sometimes, Programming

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

Linus Torvalds

Intelligence, Done, Programming

Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.

Edsger Dijkstra

Branches, Mathematics, Programming

Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). “Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective”, p.129, Springer Science & Business Media

The most disastrous thing that you can ever learn is your first programming language.

Alan Kay

Firsts, Language, Programming

Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.

Niklaus Wirth

Programming, Faster, Software

"Excel HSC Softw Design&Devel + Cards SG". Book by Geoff Lancaster, 2001.

Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)

Eric S. Raymond

Writing, Reuse, Programming

Eric S. Raymond (2001). “The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary”, p.24, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

All evolution in thought and conduct must at first appear as heresy and misconduct.

George Bernard Shaw

Firsts, Evolution, Programming

George Bernard Shaw (2015). “George Bernard Shaw: The Collected Plays (Illustrated): 60 plays including Caesar and Cleopatra, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, The Apple Cart, Cymbeline, Androcles And The Lion, The Man Of Destiny, The Inca Of Perusalem and Macbeth Skit”, p.3198, e-artnow