Computer programs are the most complex things that humans make.
A JSON decoder MAY accept and ignore comments.
People who should be the first to recognize the value of an innovation are often the last...
Things don’t change because people change their minds. They change because they retire or die.
Most programming languages contain good parts and bad parts. I discovered that I could be better programmer by using only the good parts and avoiding the bad parts.
Software is usually expected to be modified over the course of its productive life. The process of converting one correct program into a different correct program is extremely challenging.
Code reuse is the Holy Grail of Software Engineering.
Good architecture is necessary to give programs enough structure to be able to grow large without collapsing into a puddle of confusion.
The structure of software systems tend to reflect the structure of the organization that produce them.
JavaScript is the world’s most misunderstood programming language.
Programmers are as emotional and irrational as normal people.
Obsolete comments are worse than no comments.
It turns out that strong typing does not eliminate the need for careful testing. And I have found in my work that the sorts of errors that strong type checking finds are no the errors I worry about.
Progress comes from finding better ways to do things. Don’t be afraid of innovation. Don’t be afraid of ideas that are not your own.
Using int made sense in the 50s. Not any more.
JS will be a real functional language.
Features that offer value to a minority of users impose a cost on all users.
Just because something is a standard doesn’t mean it is the right choice for every application. Like XML, for example.
We see a lot of feature-driven product design in which the cost of features is not properly accounted. Features can have a negative value to customers because they make the products more difficult to understand and use. We are finding that people like products that just work. It turns out that designs that just work are much harder to produce that designs that assemble long lists of features.
If we offend, it is with our good will That you should think, we come not to offend, But with good will. To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end.
The long-term value of software to an organization is in direct proportion to the quality of the codebase.