"As soon as we started programming, we found out to our surprise that it wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs." (Maurice Wilkes, 1949)
"If one wants to make a machine mimic the behaviour of the human computer in some complex operation one has to ask him how it is done, and then translate the answer into the form of an instruction table. Constructing instruction tables is usually described as 'programming'." (Alan Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", Mind Vol. 59, 1950)
"The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming: Fundamental algorithms", 1968)
"The real problem is that programmers have spent far too much time worrying about efficiency in the wrong places and at the wrong times; premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." (Donald E Knuth, "Computer Programming as an Art", 1968)
"Computer languages of the future will be more concerned with goals and less with procedures specified by the programmer." (Marvin Minsky, "Form and Content in Computer Science", [Turing Award lecture] 1969)
"We have seen that computer programming is an art, because it applies accumulated knowledge to the world, because it requires skill and ingenuity, and especially because it produces objects of beauty. A programmer who subconsciously views himself as an artist will enjoy what he does and will do it better. Therefore we can be glad that people who lecture at computer conferences speak of the state of the Art." (Donald E Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming", 1968)
"The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity, of mastering multitude and avoiding its bastard chaos as effectively as possible." (Edsger W Dijkstra, "Notes On Structured Programming", 1970)
"But active programming consists of the design of new programs, rather than contemplation of old programs." (Niklaus Wirth, "Program Development by Stepwise Refinement", 1971)
"Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians." (Edsger W Dijkstra, "How do we tell truths that might hurt?", 1975)
"Are you quite sure that all those bells and whistles, all those wonderful facilities of your so called powerful programming languages, belong to the solution set rather than the problem set?" (Edsger W Dijkstra, "A Discipline of Programming", 1976)
"Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming." (Brian W Kernighan, Software Tools, 1976)
"Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming." (Brian W Kernighan, Software Tools, 1976)
"Programming is the art of writing essays in crystal clear prose and making them executable." (Per B Hansen, "The architecture of concurrent programs", 1977)
"If the advancement of the general art of programming requires the continuing invention and elaboration of paradigms, advancement of the art of the individual programmer requires that he expand his repertory of paradigms." (Robert Floyd, "The Paradigms of Programming", 1979)
"Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. (Gerald J Sussman & Hal Abelson, "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", 1979)
"When we program a computer to make choices intelligently after determining its options, examining their consequences, and deciding which is most favorable or most moral or whatever, we must program it to take an attitude towards its freedom of choice essentially isomorphic to that which a human must take to his own." (John McCarthy "Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines", 1979)
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing." (Alan Perlis, "Epigrams on Programming", 1982)
"Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. (Gerald J Sussman & Hal Abelson, "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", 1979)
"When we program a computer to make choices intelligently after determining its options, examining their consequences, and deciding which is most favorable or most moral or whatever, we must program it to take an attitude towards its freedom of choice essentially isomorphic to that which a human must take to his own." (John McCarthy "Ascribing Mental Qualities to Machines", 1979)
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing." (Alan Perlis, "Epigrams on Programming", 1982)
"How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call 'elegance' - are not a dispensable luxury, but a crucial matter that decides between success and failure?" (Edsger W Dijkstra, "'Why Is Software So Expensive?' An Explanation to the Hardware Designer", [EWD648] 1982)
"There is one very good reason to learn programming, but it has nothing to do with preparing for high-tech careers or with making sure one is computer literate in order to avoid being cynically manipulated by the computers of the future. The real value of learning to program can only be understood if we look at learning to program as an exercise of the intellect, as a kind of modern-day Latin that we learn to sharpen our minds." (Roger Schank, "The Cognitive Computer: on language, learning, and artificial intelligence", 1984)
"An organisation that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only." (Bjarne Stroustrup, "The C++ Programming Language", 1985)
"An organisation that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only." (Bjarne Stroustrup, "The C++ Programming Language", 1985)
"[…] programming demands a significantly higher standard of accuracy. Things don’t simply have to make sense to another human being, they must make sense to a computer. (Donald E Knuth, "Theory and practice", EATCS Bulletin 27, 1985)
"Programming is like pinball. The reward for doing it well is the opportunity to do it again." (Rick Cook, "The Wizardry Compiled", 1989)
"The main activity of programming is not the origination of new independent programs, but in the integration, modification, and explanation of existing ones." (Terry Winograd, "Beyond Programming Languages", 1991)
"Most programming tools and techniques focus on one aspect or a few related aspects of a system. The details of the aspect they select are shown in utmost clarity, but other details may be obscured or forgotten." (John Zachman, "Extending and Formalizing the Framework for Information Systems Architecture", 1992)
"When one considers how hard it is to write a computer program even approaching the intellectual scope of a good mathematical paper, and how much greater time and effort have to be put into it to make it 'almost' formally correct, it is preposterous to claim that mathematics as we practice it is anywhere near formally correct." (William P Thurston, "On proof and progress in mathematics", Bulletin of the AMS 30 (2), 1994)
"Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity." (David Gelernter, "Machine Beauty: Elegance And The Heart Of Technolog", 1998)"Computer programs are complex by nature. Even if you could invent a programming language that operated exactly at the level of the problem domain, programming would be complicated because you would still need to precisely define relationships between real-world entities, identify exception cases, anticipate all possible state transitions, and so on. Strip away the accidental work involved in representing these factors in a specific programming language and in a specific computing environment, and you still have the essential difficulty of defining the underlying real-world concepts and debugging your understanding of them." (Steve C McConnell," After the Gold Rush : Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering", 1999)
"When you find you have to add a feature to a program, and the program's code is not structured in a convenient way to add the feature, first refactor the program to make it easy to add the feature, then add the feature." (Martin Fowler, "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code", 1999)
"When you find you have to add a feature to a program, and the program's code is not structured in a convenient way to add the feature, first refactor the program to make it easy to add the feature, then add the feature." (Martin Fowler, "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code", 1999)
"Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming: feedback is the treatment." (Kent Beck, "Extreme Programming Explained", 2000)
"Computer programming is tremendous fun. Like music, it is a skill that derives from an unknown blend of innate talent and constant practice. Like drawing, it can be shaped to a variety of ends – commercial, artistic, and pure entertainment. Programmers have a well-deserved reputation for working long hours, but are rarely credited with being driven by creative fevers. Programmers talk about software development on weekends, vacations, and over meals not because they lack imagination, but because their imagination reveals worlds that others cannot see." (Larry O'Brien & Bruce Eckel, "Thinking in C#", 2002)
"Computer programs are the most intricate, delicately balanced and finely interwoven of all the products of human industry to date. They are machines with far more moving parts than any engine: the parts don't wear out, but they interact and rub up against one another in ways the programmers themselves cannot predict." (James Gleick, "What Just Happened: A chronicle from the information frontier", 2002)
"A programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of." (Paul Graham, "Hackers and Painters", 2003)
"Putting a new feature into a program is important, but refactoring so new features can be added in the future is equally important." (Ward Cunningham, "Crucible of Creativity", 2005)
"A commitment to simplicity of design means addressing the essence of design - the abstractions on which software is built - explicitly and up front. Abstractions are articulated, explained, reviewed and examined deeply, in isolation from the details of the implementation. This doesn’t imply a waterfall process, in which all design and specification precedes all coding. But developers who have experienced the benefits of this separation of concerns are reluctant to rush to code, because they know that an hour spent on designing abstractions can save days of refactoring." (Daniel Jackson, "Software Abstractions", 2006)
"[Corporate programming] is often done to the point where the individual is completely submerged in corporate 'culture' with no outlet for unique talents and skills. Corporate practices can be directly hostile to individuals with exceptional skills and initiative in technical matters. I consider such management of technical people cruel and wasteful." ( Bjarne Stroustrup, ["The Problem with Programming", MIT Technology Review, [interview] ] 2006)
"Software is built on abstractions. Pick the right ones, and programming will flow naturally from design; modules will have small and simple interfaces; and new functionality will more likely fit in without extensive reorganization […] Pick the wrong ones, and programming will be a series of nasty surprises: interfaces will become baroque and clumsy as they are forced to accommodate unanticipated interactions, and even the simplest of changes will be hard to make." (Daniel Jackson, "Software Abstractions", 2006)
"Programming is the ability to talk to the computer in a language it can understand and using grammar and syntax that it can follow to get it to perform useful tasks for you." (Adrian Kingsley-Hughes & Kathie Kingsley-Hughes, "Beginning Programming", 2007)
"We are also limited by the fact that verbalization works best when mental model manipulation is an inherent element of the task of interest. Troubleshooting, computer programming, and mathematics are good examples of tasks where mental model manipulation is central and explicit. In contrast, the vast majority of tasks do not involve explicit manipulation of task representations. Thus, our access of mental models - and the access of people doing these tasks - is limited." (William B Rouse, "People and Organizations: Explorations of Human-Centered Design", 2007)
"We are also limited by the fact that verbalization works best when mental model manipulation is an inherent element of the task of interest. Troubleshooting, computer programming, and mathematics are good examples of tasks where mental model manipulation is central and explicit. In contrast, the vast majority of tasks do not involve explicit manipulation of task representations. Thus, our access of mental models - and the access of people doing these tasks - is limited." (William B Rouse, "People and Organizations: Explorations of Human-Centered Design", 2007)
"The cleaner and nicer the program, the faster it's going to run. And if it doesn't, it'll be easy to make it fast." (Joshua Bloch, [interview with (Peter Seibel, "Coders At Work", 2009)])
"Coding is an intellectually challenging and exhausting activity. It requires a level of concentration and focus that few other disciplines require. The reason for this is that coding requires you to juggle many competing factors at once."
"Programming is a personal activity and there is no general process that is usually followed. Some programmers start with components that they understand, develop these, and then move on to less-understood components. Others take the opposite approach, leaving familiar components till last because they know how to develop them. Some developers like to define data early in the process then use this to drive the program development; others leave data unspecified for as long as possible."
"Programming is an act of creation. When we write code we are creating something out of nothing. We are boldly imposing order upon chaos. We are confidently commanding, in precise detail, the behaviors of a machine that could otherwise do incalculable damage. And so, programming is an act of supreme arrogance." (Robert C Martin, "The Clean Coder: A code of conduct for professional programmers", 2011)
"Programming in the real world tends to happen on a large scale. The strategy is similar to what one might use to write a book or undertake any other big project: figure out what to do, starting with a broad specification that is broken into smaller and smaller pieces, then work on the pieces separately while making sure that they hang together. In programming, pieces tend to be of a size such that one person can write the precise computational steps in some programming language. Ensuring that the pieces written by different programmers work together is challenging, and failing to get this right is a major source of errors." (Brian W Kernighan, "Understanding the Digital World", 2017)
"Sadly, no substantial program works the first time; life is too complicated and programs reflect that complexity. Programming requires perfect attention to detail, something that few people can achieve. Thus all programs of any size will have errors, that is, they will do the wrong thing or produce the wrong answer under some circumstances. Those flaws are called bugs [...]" (Brian W Kernighan, "Understanding the Digital World", 2017)
"There aren’t enough programmers in the world to do the amount of programming involved in making computers do everything we want or need." (Brian W Kernighan, "Understanding the Digital World", 2017)
"Programming is the process of taking an algorithm and encoding it into a notation that the computer can execute. These notation systems are referred to as programming languages. [...] Programming is an important part of what a computer scientist does. It is through programming that we create a representation of our solution. However, the solutions that we achieve are often affected by the process and language that we choose. [...] Programming languages must then provide a way to represent both the process and the data required by the solution." (Bradley N Miller et al, "Python Programming in Context", 2019)
"Computer programming is like the ability or skill to see what Picasso saw from all the different angles at once. If it is an art, the crucial element of art is to look at things from an angle that produces new insight or at least has that potential." (Erik Naggum)
"Our industry will start to mature when it stops thinking about programming as being like something else, and when it realises that the only thing that programming is like is programming." (Nat Pryce)
"Programming: when the ideas turn into the real things." (Maciej Kaczmarek)
"To me programming is more than an important practical
art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge."
(Grace Hopper)
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