Top 50 Programming Quotes of All Time

I hope you have enjoyed our collection of funny computer quotes, Linux quotes, and all those quotes that we have shared with you so far. For today, I've decided to gather a good number of my all time favorite programming related quotes. !ost of the programming quotes I've collected are made by some of the famous names in the industry, while others came from not so famous people. "evertheless, they are all witty so I hope you will find them fascinating and enlightening. #ithout further delay, here are my top $% programming quotes of all time& $%. '(rogramming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. )o far, the universe is winning.' *ic+ ,oo+ -.. 'Lisp isn't a language, it's a building material.' /lan 0ay. -1. '#al+ing on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are fro2en.' 3dward 4 5erard -6. '7hey don't ma+e bugs li+e 5unny anymore.' 8lav !jelde. -9. '/ programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.' /lan :. (erlis. -$. '/ , program is li+e a fast dance on a newly waxed dance floor by people carrying ra2ors.' #aldi *avens. --. 'I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone.' 5jarne )troustrup -<. =,omputer science education cannot ma+e anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can ma+e somebody an expert painter.> 3ric ). *aymond -?. =@onAt worry if it doesnAt wor+ right. If everything did, youAd be out of a job.> !osherAs Law of )oftware 3ngineering -B. =I thin+ !icrosoft named ."et so it wouldnAt show up in a Cnix directory listing.> 8+tal -%. =Fine, :ava !IDE7 be a good example of what a programming language should be li+e. 5ut :ava applications are good examples of what applications )E8CL@"A7 be li+e.> pixadel <.. =,onsidering the current sad state of our computer programs, software development is clearly still a blac+ art, and cannot yet be called an engineering discipline.> 5ill ,linton <1. '7he use of ,858L cripples the mind; its teaching should therefore be regarded as a criminal offense.' 3.#. @ij+stra <6. 'In the one and only true way. 7he object oriented version of ')paghetti code' is, of course, 'Lasagna code'. F7oo many layersG.' *oberto #altman. <9. 'F8*7*/" is not a flower but a weed H it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.' /lan :. (erlis.

<$. =For a long time it pu22led me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless. /nd then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. 7hey are, in short, a perfect match.> 5ill 5ryson <-. 'In !y 3gotistical 8pinion, most people's , programs should be indented six feet downward and covered with dirt.' 5lair (. Eoughton. <<. '#hen someone says& 'I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done', give him a lollipop.' /lan :. (erlis <?. '7he evolution of languages& F8*7*/" is a non typed language. , is a wea+ly typed language. /da is a strongly typed language. ,II is a strongly hyped language.' *on )ercely <B. 'Dood design adds value faster than it adds cost.' 7homas ,. Dale <%. '(ython's a drop in replacement for 5/)I, in the sense that 8ptimus (rime is a drop in replacement for a truc+.' ,ory @odt ?.. '7al+ is cheap. )how me the code.' Linus 7orvalds ?1. '(erfection Jin designK is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to ta+e away.' /ntoine de )aint 3xupLry ?6. ', is quir+y, flawed, and an enormous success.' @ennis !. *itchie. ?9. 'In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, theyAre not.' Moggi 5erra ?$. =Mou canAt have great software without a great team, and most software teams behave li+e dysfunctional families.> :im !c,arthy ?-. '(E( is a minor evil perpetrated and created by incompetent amateurs, whereas (erl is a great and insidious evil, perpetrated by s+illed but perverted professionals.' :on *ibbens ?<. '(rogramming is li+e +ic+ing yourself in the face, sooner or later your nose will bleed.' 0yle #oodbury ??. '(erl N 7he only language that loo+s the same before and after *)/ encryption.' 0eith 5ostic ?B. 'It is easier to port a shell than a shell script.' Larry #all ?%. 'I invented the term '8bject 8riented', and I can tell you I did not have ,II in mind.' /lan 0ay B.. 'Learning to program has no more to do with designing interactive software than learning to touch type has to do with writing poetry' 7ed "elson B1. =7he best programmers are not marginally better than merely good ones. 7hey are an order of magnitude better, measured by whatever standard& conceptual creativity, speed, ingenuity of design, or problem solving ability.> *andall 3. )tross

B6. =If !c@onalds were run li+e a software company, one out of every hundred 5ig !acs would give you food poisoning, and the response would be, O#eAre sorry, hereAs a coupon for two more.A = !ar+ !inasi B9. '5eware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.' @onald 3. 0nuth. B$. ',omputer system analysis is li+e child rearing; you can do grievous damage, but you cannot ensure success.' 7om @e!arco B-. 'I don't care if it wor+s on your machineP #e are not shipping your machineP' 4idiu (laton. B<. ')ometimes it pays to stay in bed on !onday, rather than spending the rest of the wee+ debugging !onday's code.' ,hristopher 7hompson B?. '!easuring programming progress by lines of code is li+e measuring aircraft building progress by weight.' 5ill Dates BB. '@ebugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. 7herefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.' 5rian #. 0ernighan. B%. '(eople thin+ that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on each other, li+e a wall of mini stones.' @onald 0nuth .. =First learn computer science and all the theory. "ext develop a programming style. 7hen forget all that and just hac+.> Deorge ,arrette 1. =!ost of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. 7here are three, of course& la2iness, impatience, and hubris.> Larry #all 6. =!ost software today is very much li+e an 3gyptian pyramid with millions of bric+s piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.> /lan 0ay 9. =7he trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing until itAs too late.> )eymour ,ray $. =7o iterate is human, to recurse divine.> L. (eter @eutsch -. '8n two occasions I have been as+ed Jby members of (arliamentK& '(ray, !r. 5abbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come outQ' I am not able rightly to apprehend the +ind of confusion of ideas that could provo+e such a question.' ,harles 5abbage <. '!ost good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.' Linus 7orvalds ?. '/lways code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who +nows where you live.' !artin Dolding B. =7here are two ways of constructing a software design. 8ne way is to ma+e it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. /nd the other way is to ma+e it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.> ,./.*. Eoare