"There's a subtle reason that programmers always want to throw away the code and start over. The reason is that they think the old code is a mess. [...] The reason that they think the old code is a mess is because of a cardinal, fundamental law of programming: It's harder to read code than to write it."

--

Source : Joel Spolsky (2004). “Joel on Software”, p.184, Apress

Joel Spolsky

#Writing Quotes #Thinking Quotes #Law Quotes

“Remember that, in the end, the customer doesn't know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization - she or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.”
“I'm kind of in between a goody-goody and a rebel. I'm not bad, but I'm not good either. I'm a little crazy.”
“grumbling, as things are at present arranged in this world, does not always, nor I might say often, do good ...”
“You can figure out what the villain fears by his choice of weapons.”
“Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.”
“I think I did marry a marvelous man.”
“The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. The volatile essences which make literature cannot survive the clichÃ©s of a long series of story conferences.”
“I would gladly chastise those who represent things as different from what they are. Those who steal property or make counterfeit money are punished, and those ought to be still more severely dealt with who steal away or falsify the good name of a prince.”

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