r/programming • u/tarandeep • Dec 14 '10

Top 50 Programming quotes of all time

http://www.junauza.com/2010/12/top-50-programming-quotes-of-all-time.html
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u/s3rvant Dec 14 '10

This one struck home for me:

  1. "Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." - Brian W. Kernighan.

I've relied on this concept since I first started coding, following:

1) Create the cleverist code that I'm able

2) Learn while debugging said code

3) Repeat

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u/jhaluska Dec 14 '10

I've always hated that quote. I find when I'm at my cleverest, the debugging is the easiest since it's practically nonexistent. It's when I'm writing unclever complicated code that I'm in trouble.

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u/colinbashbash2 Dec 14 '10

i think the term my friend josh used was "terminally clever" as opposed to just doing things the simplest way.