5 Famous Programmers and Their Catchy Quotes

There always were and still are so many incredibly smart and intelligent people who did and continue doing unbelievable things in the world history…in our history. Even to think that once we didn’t have phones, computers, plumbing for crying out loud. The development and evolvement of computer science, programming, coding and everything related to that is a huge part of that history and our lives now. This is why in this article I’ve wanted to touch the minds of those men and women whose work made and makes all of this possible by selecting five quotes from ones of the famousest people in programming. Even though their accomplishments obviously speak for themselves, they still have a lot things to say.

The quote I want to start with goes to the problem of code readability. We all have the experience of dealing with a complex code that not only blows your mind, but also requires a separate book to contain all of its comments. We all know how frustrating it is to work with something like that. So there is a great saying:

“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” - John F. Woods

There isn’t much information about the author, besides that John F. Woods is a game programmer, who wrote this now popular phrase in September 1991 in a post to the comp.lang.c++ newsgroup where the usage of comma operator was discussed.

We all know what you’ve meant, John. You were totally right!

Technology and science became a huge part of our everyday life, and now almost everything demands a high-quality software in order to continue evolving and making improvements. That’s why writing a reusable code is so important, so nobody has to invent everything from the ground up, but build on the already existing base. Reusing the software was practiced since the very beginning of programming. It improves productivity and positively effects the maintainability of software products. But to use the formerly written software, its components has to be small, focused and composable. They need to be doing one thing and not trying to solve all of the problems. The great words were once said in relation to this topic:

“Before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.” - Ralph Johnson

This man is the computer science professor, the recipient of the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award and a co-author of an extremely popular book “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software” (1994). He was one of the initiators of the software patterns movement and a pioneer in the Smalltalk community.

Johnson’s phrase quite vividly reflects the importance of creating the software that can be easily used by specific users to achieve a certain goal effectively and with efficiency. So, when it comes to improving or building on top of it, it won’t be like piling up more code on something that is already complex and bloating.

Maybe there are some geniuses who can write a program and make it work perfectly from the first attempt. Maybe they exist. I just haven’t heard about them.

Writing a program is always taking a chance, having an idea and trying to figure out how to make it happen as you go. A wise man once said:

“There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.” - Alan J. Perlis

Perlis was an American mathematician and computer scientist who in 1966 won the A.M. Turing Award. This incredibly smart person was one of the most important figures in establishing computer science as a distinct academic field and left a huge imprint at the roots of programming languages.

His quote was honest and right to the point, but still contained a hint of humor. We are still humans and what’s more a part of our nature than making mistakes and learning from them. Especially in programming. It’s nearly impossible to write something good and not screw up even once along the way. It was even noticed that a phase itself demonstrates the very essence of that: there are given two elements in the first statement and in the second statement the author refers to the third, which is an error by itself. The funny yet subtle way of saying that programs will have bugs, because humans aren’t perfect, why should their creations be.

I sincerely believe that everything you learn and apply hard work, discipline, willpower and passion to, all of it determines the kind of person you are. It shapes you and your mind. If you really think about it, there aren’t that many differences between painting a piece of beautiful art, sculpting a statue, writing a book or programming. Everything requires having an idea, a certain vision and a strength of character to stick with it, to figure out how to actually bring it into our world for everyone to admire and for us to be proud of. Many painters weren’t that popular in their time, many inventors were considered mad, but the sheer desire to continue their work, to find their path despite everyone’s opinion and disbelief, that’s what made them who they really are.

“Great programming is not all that dissimilar to great art. Once you start thinking in concepts of programming it makes you a better person…as does learning a foreign language, as does learning math, as does learning how to read.” - Jack Dorsey

Dorsey is one of the great minds among American computer programmers, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter and the founder and CEO of Square. He even was a fashion model and designer (a man can have his hobbies).

Programming is not about learning lines of code and knowing how to use specific patterns, it’s more about passion, finding your way among other creations, having a curious mind and the creative attitude to never stop learning, improving and asking questions, because all of it makes us better versions of ourselves.

Education is obviously very important. It’s what gives us our basic knowledge and skills, it’s where we receive guidance in learning various topics, forming beliefs, views and values, and how we start shaping our minds. But does education really give us everything? Can it really make us experts in any area? This quote make me think about it:

“Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter.” - Eric S. Raymond

Raymond is an American software developer and the open-source software supporter who have authored and edited many written works. Some of his tendencies and claims have damaged his reputation quite a bit. But despite many unfriendly remarks that I’ve encountered when looking into his biography and this phrase, I can’t help but think that there might be something to it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a stickler for education, but let’s face it, our education, and especially in computer science, is far from perfect and it could’ve provided more than it is now. And honestly I think that programming goes beyond studying, it’s something you have to want to explore and practice outside the standard educational programs.

Conclusion

So this was my selection of famous programmers and their quite famous quotes. I’d really like to hear what you personally think about them and what’s your understanding of their phrases that became so popular among programmers community (and not just there). Maybe you have something to add or share your favorite quotes that wasn’t (not intentionally) listed here, you are highly welcome to leave your comments below.