David Parnas Quotes

• Copy and paste is a design error.

  David Parnas

  Funny Inspirational, Errors, Design

  54 Copy quote

• One bad programmer can easily create two new jobs a year.

  David Parnas

  Jobs, Years, Two

  23 Copy quote

• Artificial intelligence has the same relation to intelligence as artificial flowers have to flowers.

  David Parnas

  Flower, Relation, Artificial Intelligence

  16 Copy quote

• When someone builds a bridge, he uses engineers who have been certified as knowing what they are doing. Yet when someone builds you a software program, he has no similar certification, even though your safety may be just as dependent upon that software working as it is upon the bridge supporting your weight.

  David Parnas

  Bridges, Knowing, Safety

  14 Copy quote

• Complexity is not a goal. I don't want to be remembered as an engineer of complex systems.

  David Parnas

  Goal, Want, Complexity

  7 Copy quote

• As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.

  David Parnas

  Real, Learning, Insomnia

  15 Copy quote

• I have found that the reason a lot of people are interested in artificial intelligence is the same reason a lot of people are interested in artificial limbs: they are missing one.

  David Parnas

  People, Missing, Reason

  7 Copy quote

• We must not forget that the wheel is reinvented so often because it is a very good idea; I've learned to worry more about the soundness of ideas that were invented only once.

  David Parnas

  Ideas, Worry, Wheels

  9 Copy quote

• Requirements in mathematical language are no use unless they are easier to read than the code.

  David Parnas

  Use, Requirements, Language

  11 Copy quote

• Find the simplest model that is not a lie is the key to better software design.

  David Parnas

  Lying, Keys, Design

  9 Copy quote

• Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically', they really mean, 'not really'.

  David Parnas

  Mean Girls, Humorous, Science

  9 Copy quote

• Many spend their time berating practitioners for not applying their method. We all need to disseminate our ideas, but most of our time should be spent applying and improving our methods, not selling them. The best way to sell a mouse trap is to display some trapped mice.

  David Parnas

  Ideas, Way, Needs

  7 Copy quote

• There are no standards for computer programmers and no group to certify them.

  David Parnas

  Groups, Computer, Standards

  7 Copy quote

• My judgment is that research in 'Star Wars' is going to fail, and I believe this so strongly that I'm willing to stake my professional reputation on this. I don't believe anybody is going to build this thing.

  David Parnas

  Stars, War, Believe

  7 Copy quote

• With software products, it is usual to find that the software has major `bugs' and does not work reliably for some users... The lay public, familiar with only a few incidents of software failure, may regard them as exceptions caused by exceptionally inept programmers. Those of us who are software professionals know better; the most competent programmers in the world cannot avoid such problems.

  David Parnas

  World, May, Bugs

  8 Copy quote

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