Software Engineering Quotes - Page 3

• Plan to throw one (implementation) away; you will, anyhow.

  Fred Brooks

  Programming, Software, Plans

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• ... programming requires more concentration than other activities. It's the reason programmers get upset about 'quick interruptions' - such interruptions are tantamount to asking a juggler to keep three balls in the air and hold your groceries at the same time.

  Steve McConnell

  Air, Upset, Three

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• A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.

  Steve McConnell

  Design, Programming, Force

  Steve McConnell (2004). “Code Complete”, p.107, Pearson Education

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• We try to solve the problem by rushing through the design process so that enough time is left at the end of the project to uncover the errors that were made because we rushed through the design process

  Glenford Myers

  Errors, Rushing, Design Process

  Glenford J. Myers (1978). “Composite/structured design”, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

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• Agile methods derive much of their agility by relying on the tacit knowledge embodied in the team, rather than writing the knowleadge down in plans.

  Barry Boehm

  Team, Writing, Agility

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• Every big computing disaster has come from taking too many ideas and putting them in one place.

  Gordon Bell

  Ideas, Disaster, Bigs

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• Adding last-minute features, whether in response to competitive pressure, as a developer's pet feature, or on the whim of management, causes more bugs in software than almost anything else.

  John Robbins

  Pet, Requirements, Lasts

  John Robbins (2000). “Debugging Applications: Microsoft”

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• One principle problem of educating software engineers is that they will not use a new method until they believe it works and, more importantly, that they will not believe the method will work until they see it for themselves.

  Watts Humphrey

  Believe, Principles, Use

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• The best way to get a project done faster is to start sooner

  Jim Highsmith

  Done, Way, Projects

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• Poor management can increase software costs more rapidly than any other factor.

  Barry Boehm

  Teamwork, Poor Management, Cost

  "Planning Smarter: Creating Blueprint-Quality Software Specifications". Book by Tyson Gill (p. 14), 2002.

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• It has been discovered that C++ provides a remarkable facility for concealing the trival details of a program - such as where its bugs are.

  Robert D Keppel

  Details, Bugs, Language

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• Never in the annals of software engineering was so much owed by so many to so few lines of code

  Martin Fowler

  Engineering, Lines, Software

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• In software, the chain isn't as strong as its weakest link; it's as weak as all the weak links multiplied together.

  Steve McConnell

  Teamwork, Strong, Together

  Steve McConnell (2004). “Code Complete”, p.51, Pearson Education

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• If we play genie and grant client wishes, we are apt to construct castles of code in the air.

  Larry Constantine

  Play, Air, Wish

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• Even the best planning is not so omniscient as to get it right the first time.

  Fred Brooks

  Firsts, Planning, Programming

  "The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering". Book by Fred Brooks, 1975.

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• Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation.

  Steve McConnell

  Teamwork, Hard Work, People

  Steve McConnell (1996). “Rapid Development”, p.297, Microsoft Press

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• The best meetings get real work done. When your people learn that your meetings actually accomplish something, they will stop making excuses to be elsewhere.

  Larry Constantine

  Teamwork, Real, People

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• All programming is maintenance programming, because you are rarely writing original code.

  Dave Thomas

  Writing, Maintenance, Programming

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• About 90 percent of the downtime comes from, at most, 10 percent of the defects.

  Barry Boehm

  Downtime, Bugs, Programming

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• In fast moving markets, adaptation is significantly more important than optimization.

  Larry Constantine

  Moving, Important, Adaptation

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• The camel has evolved to be relatively self-sufficient. On the other hand, the camel has not evolved to smell good. Neither has Perl.

  Larry Wall

  Self, Hands, Smell

  Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant (2004). “Programming Perl: 3rd Edition”, p.4, "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

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• We have to stop optimizing for programmers and start optimizing for users.

  Jeff Atwood

  Computer, Programming, Optimization

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• Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.

  Donald Knuth

  Funny Inspirational, Reading, Following Instructions

  Donald Ervin Knuth (1984). “The texbook”, Addison-Wesley Professional

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• You cannot teach beginners top-down programming, because they don't know which end is up.

  Tony Hoare

  Trust, Top Down, Beginners

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• A good threat is worth a thousand tests.

  Boris Beizer

  Tests, Bugs, Programming

  Boris Beizer (1990). “Software Testing Techniques”, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

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