Thanks! :) It reminds me of the craigslist posts about how an "idea guy" wants to build a site "just like facebook but better" and they're offering a few hundred dollars. "You can build that in less than a week, right?"
“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.” ― C.A.R. Hoare
"The buggiest code is that which has had the most bugs fixed."
or
"Buggy code is buggy."
(That is, having had bugs fixed is an indicator that the code is either complex or poorly written, and is likely to harbor further undiscovered (or newly introduced) bugs.)
Could the first also imply towards that all code is buggy, absence of proof doesn't equal proof of absence. As in, if you don't find bugs yet, it doesn't mean they don't exist.
Au contraire – the evidence of absence of bugs is that the code works. (i.e., to some degree, programs find their own bugs simply by being used.)
Code that has been humming along issue-free is likely either simple, or well-written, and harbors few, if any, bugs. Otherwise, they would have evinced themselves by now.
I believe openSSL has been humming along issue free for quite a while before a somewhat famous bug popped up for some anecdotal evidence at a refutation.
Love it! Same in music: hours spend mangling a piece makes you good at mangling that piece. Much better to do deliberate practice - slowly move through nailing every phrase, every note. Then speed up.
The best code is the code never written.
The most secure code is the code never written.
The most reliable code is the code never written.
The fastest code is the code never written.
Less is more.
Related to the classic quote:
"It seems that perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
And some others:
Days of development can save hours of planning.
Your real problem is that you don't understand your problem.
Reading code is harder than writing code.
Great theme. I'm reminded of a Gordon Bell quote found in Jon Bentley's 'Programming Pearls': 'The cheapest, fastest and most reliable components of a computer system are those that aren't there.'
OP here, I can't grow a beard, but yeah, that's pretty much what it is.
It's a reference to how "beards" have become a symbol in popular culture associated with wisdom. The highest level of such beardage is the "greybeard" while the lowest is "neckbeard" (associated with people who don't know anything but pretend to).
It's been around for a long time. Think of the stereotypical medieval wizard or Greek philosopher. What does he always have? Bingo.
For most of human existence, listening to the people with grey hair (male and female) was the most reliable way of learning how to survive. They'd been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale.
It's only in recent history that things have started changing so fast that age==wisdom is no longer always true (though I think it still is more often true than some of the younger folks would like to believe).
Edit: a previous poster mentioned Gandalf. The Gandalf character wouldn't work nearly as well if he had a nose ring and a bunch of trendy facial tats, right?
56 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 55.4 ms ] threadI prefer koans to proverbs. Proverbs strike me as code without tests; they may seem superficially correct, but where's the proof?
Koans get you to think though a situation and (hopefully) arrive at an understanding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_koan
* Read whitepapers, not blog posts
* "Just ship" is no substitute for design
* Attempt personal projects that are big enough to scare you
* Today's fashion is tomorrow's legacy
* Learn weird languages to broaden your horizons
* Industry focuses on technologies at the expense of practice and discipline
"The better the job you do, the more they discount the level of difficulty"
"ONLY commit on master when drunk."
-- Old programming proverb
You should totally read codelesscode too - http://thecodelesscode.com/
- (Flight instructor's mantra): Fly the plane.
- When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
- Measure twice, cut once.
- (Paraphrasing Senator Moynihan): Show me the data. You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
gonna start saying it in real life
There's a few dated references that show its origins in 1982 but most of the fundamentals still stand.
Also, for TDD enthusiasts:
- Test first, ask questions later
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/266154.C_A_R_Hoare
This is a corollary of the much more general law: "All documentation is out of date."
or
"Buggy code is buggy."
(That is, having had bugs fixed is an indicator that the code is either complex or poorly written, and is likely to harbor further undiscovered (or newly introduced) bugs.)
Code that has been humming along issue-free is likely either simple, or well-written, and harbors few, if any, bugs. Otherwise, they would have evinced themselves by now.
"Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent"
"Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent"
"It seems that perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
And some others:
Could get a LOT based on this: Frequently Forgotten Facts about Software Engineering http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~hendrix/comp6710/readings/Forgott... [PDF](Also in book form, "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering" Robert Glass)
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it. -Alan Kay"
"A point of view is worth 80 IQ points. -Alan Kay"
"Lisp isn't a language, it's a building material. -Alan Kay"
"Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible. -Alan Kay"
"Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. -Bill Gates"
"Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming. -Brian Kernighan"
"The unavoidable price of reliability is simplicity. -C.A.R. Hoare"
"You're bound to be unhappy if you optimize everything. -Donald Knuth"
"Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -Edsger W. Dijkstra"
"Deleted code is debugged code. -Jeff Sickel"
"The key to performance is elegance, not battalions of special cases. -Jon Bentley and Doug McIlroy"
"First, solve the problem. Then, write the code. -John Johnson"
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -Leonardo da Vinci"
"Programming is not about typing... it's about thinking. -Rich Hickey"
"Design is about pulling things apart. -Rich Hickey"
"Programmers know the benefits of everything and the tradeoffs of nothing. -Rich Hickey"
"Code never lies, comments sometimes do. -Ron Jeffries"
"The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing. -Isaac Asimov"
Source: https://github.com/clojure-emacs/cider/blob/master/cider-cli...
It's a reference to how "beards" have become a symbol in popular culture associated with wisdom. The highest level of such beardage is the "greybeard" while the lowest is "neckbeard" (associated with people who don't know anything but pretend to).
Anyways. Here's more info on it:
* http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/blogs/wiredenterpris...
* http://24.media.tumblr.com/727eff26ad15978277db9525c354f75d/...
* http://www.diebenow.com/sites/default/files/Web-Developer-Em...
And a guide to Beard of Silicon Valley: http://www.wired.com/2012/11/20-12-st_beardtaxonomy/
For most of human existence, listening to the people with grey hair (male and female) was the most reliable way of learning how to survive. They'd been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale.
It's only in recent history that things have started changing so fast that age==wisdom is no longer always true (though I think it still is more often true than some of the younger folks would like to believe).
Edit: a previous poster mentioned Gandalf. The Gandalf character wouldn't work nearly as well if he had a nose ring and a bunch of trendy facial tats, right?