301 Quotes About Programming

C gives the programmer what the programmer wants; few restrictions, few complaints... C++ maintains the original spirit of C, that the programmer not the language is in charge.

Programming, it turns out, is hard. The fundamental rules are typically simple and clear. But programs built on top of these rules tend to become complex enough to introduce their own rules and complexity. You’re building your own maze, in a way, and you might just get lost in it.

Learning the art of programming, like most other disciplines, consists of first learning the rules and then learning when to break them.

I always suspected that programmers became programmers because they got to play God with the little universe boxes on their desks.

Sometimes you cannot program around stupid.

But while you can always write 'spaghetti code' in a procedural language, object-oriented languages used poorly can add meatballs to your spaghetti.

The approach shown... is a common pattern for testing exception-throwing behavior with JUnit. @Test public void missingValueRaisesException() throws Exception { try { new Template("${foo}").evaluate(); fail("evaluate() should throw an exception if " + "a variable was left without a value!"); } catch (MissingValueException expected) { }}

Every reader should ask himself periodically ``Toward what end, toward what end?'' -- but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.

A sentient mind refuses to be confined by the parameters of its programming.