Quotes in software

Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming.

Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen.

There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.

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

In software, we rarely have meaningful requirements. Even if we do, the only measure of success that matters is whether our solution solves the customer’s shifting idea of what their problem is.

Every time you write code or introduce third-party services, you are introducing the possibility of failure into your system.