Quotes About Software

Trans campaigners intent on arguing that trans is hardware can only win their argument if they persuade people that being a woman is a matter of software. And not all feminists are willing to concede that one.

In the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It's really that simple: Program, or be programmed. Choose the former, and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.

But the underlying capability of the computer era is actually programming—which almost none of us knows how to do. We simply use the programs that have been made for us, and enter our text in the appropriate box on the screen. We teach kids how to use software to write, but not how to write software. This means they have access to the capabilities given to them by others, but not the power to determine the value-creating capabilities of these technologies for themselves.

It is not too bold a statement to say that a software development project is one of the riskiest investments a business makes. For example, the chance of a large software project being canceled increases with project duration. In the 1990s, those projects that exceeded two years of elapsed calendar time in development had a default rate that exceeded the worst rated junk bonds (something over 25%).

The only thing I understand deeply, because in my teens I was thinking about it, and every year of my life, is software. So I'll never be hands-on on anything except software.

The iterative piece of agile can be defined by four key terms: iterative, feature-based, timeboxed, and incremental.

The X server has to be the biggest program I've ever seen that doesn't do anything for you.

It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.

A crash is when your competitor's program dies. When your program dies, it is an 'idiosyncrasy'.

My background is as a computer scientist and programmer.

I am a programmer. If I write code, I don't evaluate the results by what I hope the code will be. I evaluate it by what happens when I compile it. I evaluate it by results.

I'm not a computer person at all. I only know how to turn them on. I'm not a programmer. I couldn't program my way out of a paper bag.

I wasn't the best UI programmer, but I know to use the interface and that stuff. It's definitely given me a leg up in terms of being able to talk to the people in the games industry.

In the beginning, there were Real Programmers.

Marketing is the obverse of programming.

Programming is the art of algorithm design and the craft of debugging errant code.

Computer programming is pretty much guaranteed income. I'm good at it, and I like it.

It's very hard to explain to people who don't program, but the object-oriented programming system made programming the Mac and iPhone so easy.

I've never regretted not making Linux shareware: I really don't like the pay for use binary shareware programs.

Interleaf is very nice. I expect there to be a lot of competition for programs like that.

I have several computer companies. One of them I have a program for wide-format printing. I have a beauty program. So I have several different programs that I own for printing.

The Mozilla project is big in terms of lines of code and complexity.

Early in my career, I was involved with engineer-led projects, where designers came in late in the game and were expected to put lipstick on an existing code base. This almost never works.

Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.