Brian Kernighan famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Funny Inspirational #Smart #Writing
Do what you think is interesting, do something that you think is fun and worthwhile, because otherwise you won't do it well anyway.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Fun #Thinking #Interesting
As we said in the preface to the first edition, C "wears well as one's experience with it grows." With a decade more experience, we still feel that way.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Way #Firsts #Language
Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Technology #Essence #Computer
Some compilers allow a check during execution that subscripts do not exceed array dimensions. This is a help, but not sufficient. First, many programmers do not use such compilers because They're not efficient. (Presumably, this means that it is vital to get the wrong answers quickly.)
-- Brian Kernighan

#Mean #Firsts #Dimensions
The most effective debugging tool is still careful thought, coupled with judiciously placed print statements.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Tools #Debugging #Print
Another effective [debugging] technique is to explain your code to someone else. This will often cause you to explain the bug to yourself. Sometimes it takes no more than a few sentences, followed by an embarrassed "Never mind, I see what's wrong. Sorry to bother you." This works remarkably well; you can even use non-programmers as listeners. One university computer center kept a teddy bear near the help desk. Students with mysterious bugs were required to explain them to the bear before they could speak to a human counselor.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Sorry #Learning #Mind
If you had done something twice, you are likely to do it again.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Done #Mathematical
Trying to outsmart a compiler defeats much of the purpose of using one.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Trying #Purpose #Defeat
If you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?
-- Brian Kernighan

#Clever #Writing
Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Class #Bugs #Users
Don't document bad code - rewrite it.
-- Brian Kernighan

#Quality #Code
Trivia rarely affect efficiency. Are all the machinations worth it, when their primary effect is to make the code less readable?
-- Brian Kernighan

#Statistics #Trivia #Efficiency
An effective way to test code is to exercise it at its natural boundaries
-- Brian Kernighan

#Exercise #Tests #Way

You may also like:

Anders Hejlsberg
Software Engineer
Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Computer Scientist
Bjarne Stroustrup
Scientist
Bruce Eckel
Author
Dennis Ritchie
Computer Scientist
Donald Knuth
Computer Scientist
Douglas Crockford
Computer programmer
Eric S. Raymond
Programmer
Guido van Rossum
Computer programmer
James Gosling
Computer Scientist
Ken Thompson
Computer Designer
Larry Wall
Programmer
Linus Torvalds
Software Engineer
Niklaus Wirth
Computer Scientist
P. J. Plauger
Author
Richard Stallman
Activist
Rob Pike
Software Engineer
Scott Meyers
Author
W. Richard Stevens
Author
Yukihiro Matsumoto
Computer Scientist