Erik Naggum Quotes

Let’s just hope that all the world is run by Bill Gates before the Perl hackers can destroy it. - View Quote Details on Let’s just hope that all the world is run by…
The Web provided me with a much needed realization that information cannot be fully separated from its presentation, and showed me something I knew without verbalizing explicitly, that the presentation form we choose communicates real information. - View Quote Details on The Web provided me with a much needed realization that…
Some people are little more than herd animals, flocking together whenever the world becomes uncomfortable for any reason, seeking the comfort of those who agree with them, do not contradict them, and take care of their emotions. I am not one of those people. If I had a motto, it would probably be Herd thither, me hither. - View Quote Details on Some people are little more than herd animals, flocking together…
aestheticles: n. The little-known source of aesthetic reactions. If your whole body feels like going into a fetal position or otherwise double over from the pain of experiencing something exceptionally ugly and inelegant, such as C++, it’s because your aestheticles got creamed. - View Quote Details on aestheticles: n. The little-known source of aesthetic reactions. If your…
Rewarding incompetence and ignorance increases the number of incompetent programmers. Designing programming languages and tools so incompetent programmers can feel better about themselves is not the way to go. - View Quote Details on Rewarding incompetence and ignorance increases the number of incompetent programmers…
A novice had a problem and could not find a solution. “I know,” said the novice, “I’ll just use Perl!” The novice now had two problems. - View Quote Details on A novice had a problem and could not find a…
If you are concerned about netiquette, you are either concerned about your own and follow good netiquette, or you are concerned about others and violate good netiquette by bothering people with your “concern”, as the only netiquette you can actually affect is your own. - View Quote Details on If you are concerned about netiquette, you are either concerned…
Gotos aren’t damnable to begin with. If you aren’t smart enough to distinguish what’s bad about some gotos from all gotos, goto hell. - View Quote Details on Gotos aren’t damnable to begin with. If you aren’t smart…
I think we all need to take our teachers with multiple grains of salt. They have, after all, figured out their stuff at a much slower pace than they try to teach us. Something is bound to get lost in that process. - View Quote Details on I think we all need to take our teachers with…
Languages shape the way we think, or don’t. - View Quote Details on Languages shape the way we think, or don’t.
The theory is the result of listening to the problem. When the theory acquires a life of its own because some people like it more than the real world, all kinds of uninspiring, uninteresting things happen, so the key is both to listen to the problem and to study the theory. But always remember that just as much theory is bunk as there are buggy solutions. There is nothing more wrong with “theory” than “solutions” – both their quality and their applicability are orthogonal to their existence. - View Quote Details on The theory is the result of listening to the problem…
If car manufacturers made cars according to spec the same way software vendors make software according to spec, all five wheels would be of widely differing sizes, it would take one person to steer and another to work the pedals and yet another to operate the user-friendly menu-driven dashboard, and if it would not drive straight ahead without a lot of effort, civil engineers would respond by building spiraling roads around each city. - View Quote Details on If car manufacturers made cars according to spec the same…
The clumsiness of people who have to engage their brain at every step is unbearably painful to watch, at least to me, and that’s what the novice-friendly software makes people do, because there’s no elegance in them, it’s just a mass of features to be learned by rote. However, this suits people a hell of a lot better than setting out at age 6 to become a great ballet dancer and achieving their goal 20 years later after every tendon and muscle and joint has been asked to perform just a little bit more than nature ever intended over and over and over again. To most people, this is insanity. But in reality, it’s art, and it’s the art in what we do that makes us human. - View Quote Details on The clumsiness of people who have to engage their brain…
Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO is the answer. - View Quote Details on Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO…
A system needs to be alive and workable even when other people than the first enthusiasts start using it. Reinvention and revolution are enthusiast stuff. Invention and evolution are engineering. - View Quote Details on A system needs to be alive and workable even when…
I have argued that a religion or a philosophy cannot speak about facts of the world – if it does, it is now or will eventually be wrong – but it can and should speak about the relevance and ranking of facts and observations. - View Quote Details on I have argued that a religion or a philosophy cannot…
The Novice has been the focus of an alarming amount of attention in the computer field. It is not just that the preferred user is unskilled, it is that the whole field in its application rewards novices and punishes experts. What you learn today will be useless a few years hence, so why bother to study and know anything well? I think this is the main reason for the IT winter we are now experiencing. - View Quote Details on The Novice has been the focus of an alarming amount…
Have you considered the option of getting the joke? If not, try it now and redeem your soul. - View Quote Details on Have you considered the option of getting the joke? If…
For some reason, the United States is the only country on Earth where accidents don’t happen – it’s always somebody’s fault, and you can sue that somebody for neglect. - View Quote Details on For some reason, the United States is the only country…
You have failed to consider the ramifications of the solutions and pose a problem that simply would not exist if you did. This taxes my patience, which is already legendary in its general absence. - View Quote Details on You have failed to consider the ramifications of the solutions…
The past is not more important than the future, despite what your culture has taught you. Your future observations, conclusions, and beliefs are more important to you than those in your past ever will be. The world is changing so fast the balance between the past and the future has shifted. - View Quote Details on The past is not more important than the future, despite…
Some tasks are by their very nature so chock full of gory details that the elegance has to be an acquired taste, not something you can always bring with you or just “intuit” externally to the task. - View Quote Details on Some tasks are by their very nature so chock full…
Contrary to the foolish notion that syntax is immaterial, people optimize the way they express themselves, and so express themselves differently with different syntaxes. - View Quote Details on Contrary to the foolish notion that syntax is immaterial, people…
Sometimes, the only way to learn something really well is to revert to the state of mind of a novice and reawaken to the raw observations that you have accumulated instead of relying on the conclusions you have reached from the exogenous premises absorbed through teaching and bookish learning. - View Quote Details on Sometimes, the only way to learn something really well is…
Life is too long to be good at C++. - View Quote Details on Life is too long to be good at C++.
In Norway, we have a community of people who prefer to use a version of Norwegian that looks very much like lutefisk : Dug up remains from the garbage heap of history and dressed up to look like a tradition. - View Quote Details on In Norway, we have a community of people who prefer…
If this is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. - View Quote Details on If this is not what you expected, please alter your…
If you think this year is “97″, you are not “year 2000 compliant”. - View Quote Details on If you think this year is “97″, you are not…
My other car is a cdr. - View Quote Details on My other car is a cdr.
I may be biased, but I tend to find a much lower tendency among female programmers to be dishonest about their skills, and thus do not say they know C++ when they are smart enough to realize that that would be a lie for all but perhaps 5 people on this planet. - View Quote Details on I may be biased, but I tend to find a…
If I sound grumpy, it is only because I have come across too many idiots of the “it can’t be done” persuasion lately, the kind of managers who have an aquarium in their office because fifteen brains think better than one. - View Quote Details on If I sound grumpy, it is only because I have…