Tibor's Musings

Quotes on Programming

Quotes on computer programming to meditate upon.

Performance

We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time:
premature optimization is the root of all evil.
--Donald Knuth

You're bound to be unhappy if you optimize everything.
--Donald Knuth

The best performance improvement is the transition from the …

Programming Language for Rapid Prototyping

Programming languages suitable for rapid prototyping or why I prefer Lisp and Python to Java.

I think one of the essential needs in programming is the ability to create fast prototypes, to test ideas, to throw some of them, and retain the good ones. Java is not good at this …

Average Style of Programming

A danger of machinable software engineering factory: average style of programming.

The problem with software engineering methodologies is that they often promote a kind of "average" style of programming, often leading to mediocrity, or even worse, unnecessary overbloatedness. My favourite quote illustrating this problem comes from an excellent book by …

Programming: Engineering or Poetry?

Is programming more like an engineering or it is more like an art?

I just came across a recent interview of Richard Gabriel for java.sun.com where he precisely pushes against considering programming as a sole engineering activity, underlines the role of creativeness and diversity and makes parallels between …

Programming Language Psychology

What role does a programming language play in the mind of the programmer?

Language for the masses?

Michael Vanier writes:

Writing Java code, though not particulary painful in the sense that C is painful (core dumps etc.), puts me to sleep. Writing Ocaml (which is a "language designed for smart …