I would encourage nonproprietary standards for tools and libraries. Bjarne Stroustrup More Quotes by Bjarne Stroustrup More Quotes From Bjarne Stroustrup Tom [Cargil]s suggestion with a further idea: Propsers of new [C++] features should be required to donate a kidney. That would - Jim [Waldo] pointed out - make people think hard before proposing, and even people without any sense would propose at most two extensions. Bjarne Stroustrup two ideas thinking Our civilization depends critically on software, and we have a dangerously low degree of professionalism in the computer fields Bjarne Stroustrup degrees fields civilization And no, I'm not a walking C++ dictionary. I do not keep every technical detail in my head at all times. If I did that, I would be a much poorer programmer. I do keep the main points straight in my head most of the time, and I do know where to find the details when I need them. Bjarne Stroustrup details would-be needs Nobody should call themselves a professional if they only knew one language. Bjarne Stroustrup language ifs should Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost. Bjarne Stroustrup design lost forget First, I'd like to see the basic tools such as compilers, debuggers, profilers, database interfaces, GUI builders, CAD tools, and so forth fully support the ISO standard. Bjarne Stroustrup cad support tools This evolution may compromise Java's claim of being simpler than C++, but my guess is that the effort will make Java a better language than it is today. Bjarne Stroustrup java effort may Certainly not every good program is object-oriented, and not every object-oriented program is good. Bjarne Stroustrup very-good program objects More good code has been written in languages denounced as "bad'' than in languages proclaimed "wonderful'' - much more. Bjarne Stroustrup simplicity language wonderful The connection between the language in which we think/program and the problems and solutions we can imagine is very close. For this reason restricting language features with the intent of eliminating programmer errors is at best dangerous. Bjarne Stroustrup connections errors thinking Too many managers and executives try to reduce programming to a low-level assembly-line activity. That's inefficient, wasteful, costly in the long run, and inhumane to programmers. Bjarne Stroustrup running trying long The standard library saves programmers from having to reinvent the wheel. Bjarne Stroustrup thought-provoking reading book There is no one "root of all evil" in software development. Design is hard in many ways. People tend to underestimate the intellectual and practical difficulties involved in building a significant system involving software. It is not and will not be reduced to a simple mechanical "assembly line" process. Creativity, engineering principles, and evolutionary change are needed to create a satisfactory large system. Bjarne Stroustrup engineering creativity simple Clearly, I reject the view that there is one way that is right for everyone and for every problem. Bjarne Stroustrup problem views way Most of the programmers in ten years will be us, and we won't get much smarter. Bjarne Stroustrup mathematics science years Always think about how a piece of code should be used: good interfaces are the essence of good code. You can hide all kinds of clever and dirty code behind a good interface if you really need such code. Bjarne Stroustrup clever dirty thinking Proof by analogy is fraud. Bjarne Stroustrup fraud proof analogies Any verbose and tedious solution is error-prone because programmers get bored. Bjarne Stroustrup programmers bored errors After all, C++ isn't a perfect match for Java's design aims either. Bjarne Stroustrup java design perfect My impression was and is that many programming languages and tools represent solutions looking for problems, and I was determined that my work should not fall into that category. Thus, I follow the literature on programming languages and the debates about programming languages primarily looking for ideas for solutions to problems my colleagues and I have encountered in real applications. Other programming languages constitute a mountain of ideas and inspiration-but it has to be mined carefully to avoid featurism and inconsistencies. Bjarne Stroustrup inspiration real fall
