“Programming can be fun, so can cryptography; however they should not be combined.” — Kreitzberg and Shneiderman
“Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.” — Donald Knuth
“The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time.” — Tom Cargill
“Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.” — Ralph Johnson
“Programmers are in a race with the Universe to create bigger and better idiot-proof programs, while the Universe is trying to create bigger and better idiots. So far the Universe is winning.” — Anon
“There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third works.” — Alan J. Perlis
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” — H L Mencken
“One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.” — Robert Firth
“I’ve finally learned what “upward compatible” means. It means we get to keep all our old mistakes.” — Dennie van Tassel
More programmlng quotes can be found here.
And tangentially: “A legacy system is a system that works.” [some guy at Harvard]
Murphy Programming Laws
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Programming is something that converts hours of effort into frustration and despondency.
(part of a multiple-choice question at uni)