"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it."

Brian Kernighan Literature See all quotes by Brian Kernighan →

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“Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming.”

“Advice to students: Leap in and try things. If you succeed, you can have enormous influence. If you fail, you have still learned something, and your next attempt is sure to be better for it. Advice to graduates: Do something you really enjoy doing. If it isn’t fun to get up in the morning and do your job or your school program, you’re in the wrong field.”

“Kernighan's home page at Princeton University”

“Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?”

“Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs.”

“Do what you think is interesting, do something that you think is fun and worthwhile, because otherwise you won't do it well anyway.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Those big-shot writers … could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar."

— Mickey Spillane

Literature1918–2006

#writing

"Here , soon after my arrival, I began to lay the foundation upon which by degrees the whole structure was raised as it now stands, and the speculum being highly polished and put into the tube, I had t…"

— William_Herschel

Science1738–1822

#philosophy

"You know that place between sleep and awake, that place where you still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting."

— J.M. Barrie

Literature1860–1937

#love

"Usually marriages break up because people won't take the trouble to get through the middle breakfasts. It's no trick to get through the first breakfasts, when love is new and there are bows on the egg…"

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Entertainment1898–1990

#friendship