Quotes About Software

I got a degree in math, from not a good school in Texas, and then I went to work as a software engineer. Just not glamorous at all.

I want people to understand the amazing, positive way our software can make leisure time more enjoyable, and work and businesses more successful.

Some PhD physicists write software or work for hedge funds, but physics still has a problem with having very smart people but not enough opportunities.

I want to avoid locking people into solutions that work only with Postfix. People should have a choice in what software they want to use with Postfix, be it anti-virus or otherwise.

The Postfix security model is based on keeping software simple and stupid.

The payoff of a customer-centric approach to software and digital product design is substantial and long-lasting for both companies and their customers.

The fundamental problem with program maintenance is that fixing a defect has a substantial chance of introducing another.

The industries that fall first are the industries that either produce electromechanical items that are now inferior to their software substitutes, or the industries that produce a mechanically created service that's now inferior.

Programming today is a race between software engineers stirring to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.

So what I was essentially doing was, I compromised the confidentiality of their proprietary software to advance my agenda of becoming the best at breaking through the lock.

Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.

Most of the effort in the software business goes into the maintenance of code that already exists.

For whatever reason somebody can be convinced to buy a PC, it opens up a whole new market for all of us in the software business.

The fundamental problem with program maintenance is that fixing a defect has a substantial (20-50 percent) chance of introducing another. So the whole process is two steps forward and one step back.

One of the most fulfilling things about programming is that you can turn your dreams into reality. The amount of skill you need varies with your dreams, but generally if you want to develop a certain type of application or service, you can give it a try. Most software comes from necessity or a dream, so keeping your eyes and ears open for things you might want to develop is important.

Kanban is not a software development lifecycle methodology or an approach to project management. It requires that some process is already in place so that Kanban can be applied to incrementally change the underlying process.

It appears evident that, for the average team, insisting on writing tests first, before functional coding, improves quality.

Kanban must not be thought of as a software development lifecycle process or a project-management process. Kanban is a change-management technique that requires making alterations to an existing process: changes such as adding work-in-progress limits to it. Work

There are only two places to get robbed: TV and the real world. On television you get your stuff back. In the real world, if you're lucky, the policeman who responds to your call will wonder what kind of computer it was. Don't let this get your hopes up. Chances are he's asking only because he has a software question.

Delivering good software today is often better than perfect software tomorrow, so finish things and ship.

When good-enough software is best [You95], you can discipline yourself to write software that's good enough—good enough for your users, for future maintainers, for your own peace of mind.

Like many academics, Howard was innocent of the world. He could identify thirty different ideological trends in the social sciences, but did not really know what a software engineer was.

Then again, the more time I spend with the tail end of Generation Facebook (in the shape of my students) the more convinced I become that some of the software currently shaping their generation is unworthy of them. They are more interesting than it is. They deserve better.

These designs came together very recently, and there's a haphazard, accidental quality to them. Resist the easy grooves they guide you into. If you love a medium made of software, there's a danger that you will become entrapped in someone else's recent careless thoughts. Struggle against that!