Computer programming is really a lot like writing a recipe. If you've read a recipe, you know what the structure of a recipe is, it's got some things up at the top that are your ingredients, and below that, the directions for how to deal with those ingredients.

Larry Wall

Categorized in : Writing Recipes Ingredients

Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.

technology three funny

The problem with using C++ ... is that there's already a strong tendency in the language to require you to know everything before you can do anything.

language strong problem

True greatness is measured by how much freedom you give to others, not by how much you can coerce others to do what you want.

greatness inspiring giving

Laziness is a programmers main virtue. by Larry Wall

Laziness is a programmers main virtue.

laziness inspiring inspire

When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi.

poor keys doubt

I'm reminded of the day my daughter came in, looked over my shoulder at some Perl 4 code, and said, 'What is that, swearing?

shoulders daughter said

I've decided I don't want to be a manager. Every time you try to be responsive to your employees, they say you're being reactive and not proactive. And when you try to be proactive, they accuse you of being capricious and arbitrary. So I don't wanna be a manager.

arbitrary want trying

Perl is worse than Python because people wanted it worse. by Larry Wall

Perl is worse than Python because people wanted it worse.

python wanted people

I think it's a new feature. Don't tell anyone it was an accident. by Larry Wall

I think it's a new feature. Don't tell anyone it was an accident.

requirements computer thinking

A journey of a thousand miles continues with the second step. by Larry Wall

A journey of a thousand miles continues with the second step.

computer journey steps

Over the long term, symbiosis is more useful than parasitism. Mor... by Larry Wall

Over the long term, symbiosis is more useful than parasitism. More fun, too. Ask any mitochondria.

mitochondria fun long

It's easier to make up sayings people like to hear than sayings t... by Larry Wall

It's easier to make up sayings people like to hear than sayings they like to heed.

easier computer people

Obviously I was either onto something, or on something. by Larry Wall

Obviously I was either onto something, or on something.

technology funny science

We can debug relationships, but it's always good policy to consider the people themselves to be features. People get annoyed when you try to debug them.

annoyed trying people

Part of language design is perturbing the proposed feature in various directions to see how it might generalize in the future.

design language might

If you and I always agree, then one of us is redundant. by Larry Wall

If you and I always agree, then one of us is redundant.

redundant agree ifs

When they first built the University of California at Irvine they just put the buildings in. They did not put any sidewalks, they just planted grass. The next year, they came back and put the sidewalks where the trails were in the grass. Perl is just that kind of language. It is not designed from first principles. Perl is those sidewalks in the grass.

california principles years

I want people to use Perl. I want to be a positive ingredient of the world and make my American history. So, whatever it takes to give away my software and get it used, that's great.

use giving people

You can’t change the past. You can’t even change the future, in the sense that you can only change the present one moment at a time, stubbornly, until the future unwinds itself into the stories of our lives.

moments stories past

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. by Larry Wall

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

technology real writing