July 06, 2005

May 09, 2005

Software philosophy

C.A.R.Hoare
Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.

Ken Thompson
When in doubt, use brute force.

Henry Spencer
Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.

March 20, 2005

Relationships

Alice Thomas Ellis
There is no reciprocity.
Men love women.
Women love children.
Children love hamsters.

March 08, 2005

How true

T.S.Eliot
The bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious and conscious where he ought to be unconscious. Both errors tend to make him "personal." Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.

March 07, 2005

Occam's Razor

Albert Einstein
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.