Any tool should be useful in the expected way, but a truly great tool lends itself to uses you never expected. Eric S. Raymond More Quotes by Eric S. Raymond More Quotes From Eric S. Raymond Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter. Eric S. Raymond computer technology experts Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around. Eric S. Raymond data simplicity smart Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (e.g., given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone). Eric S. Raymond bugs learning problem If you have the right attitude, interesting problems will find you. Eric S. Raymond problem attitude interesting You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion. Eric S. Raymond passion people way Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse) Eric S. Raymond reuse programming writing Prototype, then polish. Get it working before you optimize it Eric S. Raymond prototype polish For the first time, individual hackers could afford to have home machines comparable in power and storage capacity to the minicomputers of ten years earlier - Unix engines capable of supporting a full development environment and talking to the Internet. Eric S. Raymond home talking years The easiest programs to use are those which demand the least new learning from the user Eric S. Raymond program demand use Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot. Eric S. Raymond enlightenment use profound Alchemists turned into chemists Eric S. Raymond keeping-secrets alchemist knowledge In the U.S., blacks are 12% of the population but commit 50% of violent crimes; can anyone honestly think this is unconnected to the fact that they average 15 points of IQ lower than the general population? That stupid people are more violent is a fact independent of skin color. Eric S. Raymond independent stupid thinking Thompson and Ritchie were among the first to realize that hardware and compiler technology had become good enough that an entire operating system could be written in C, and by 1978 the whole environment had been successfully ported to several machines of different types. Eric S. Raymond machines technology different Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet? Eric S. Raymond standards hell python Berkeley hackers liked to see themselves as rebels against soulless corporate empires. Eric S. Raymond hackers rebel empires And for any agents or proxy of the regime interested in asking me questions face to face, I've got some bullets slathered in pork fat to make you feel extra special welcome. Eric S. Raymond pork special asking We hackers are a playful bunch; we'll hack anything, including language, if it looks like fun (thus our tropism for puns). Deep down, we like confusing people who are stuffier and less mentally agile than we are, especially when they're bosses. There's a little bit of the mad scientist in all hackers, ready to discombobulate the world and flip authority the finger - especially if we can do it with snazzy special effects. Eric S. Raymond mad fun people When I hear the words "social responsibility," I want to reach for my gun. Eric S. Raymond gun responsibility want A software system is transparent when you can look at it and immediately see what is going on. It is simple when what is going on is uncomplicated enough for a human brain to reason about all the potential cases without strain Eric S. Raymond simple brain looks The combination of threads, remote-procedure-call interfaces, and heavyweight object-oriented design is especially dangerous... if you are ever invited onto a project that is supposed to feature all three, fleeing in terror might well be an appropriate reaction. Eric S. Raymond heavyweights fleeing design
&media=https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-aceeed7bb323fa5b3d0e921f3baecda6.jpg){kind=link}
![](https://service.weibo.com/share/share.php?url=https://whatsmyquote.com/quote/when-i-hear-the-words-social-responsibility-i-want-to-reach-for-my-gun&appkey=&title=Eric S. Raymond quote: When I hear the words "social responsibility," I want to reach for my gun.&pic=https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-fdaffb3001632b134a1011c5fc88f5a5.jpg&ralateUid=&language=zh_cn){kind=link}
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://whatsmyquote.com/quote/when-i-hear-the-words-social-responsibility-i-want-to-reach-for-my-gun&description=When I hear the words "social responsibility," I want to reach for my gun.&media=https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-fdaffb3001632b134a1011c5fc88f5a5.jpg){kind=link}