was a much more enjoyable read than the previously reviewed, Masterminds of Programming. Primarily as there wasn't a focus on finding conflict, I could instead enjoy hearing about how each person came to learn programming / computer science and their experiences with working on projects both small and large. By the end of the book, I wanted to go write code on a project, which suggests it was far more inspirational than most books I read.Notable quotes follow:
"As they say, it's easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code." - Joshua Bloch
Several interviewees quote Tony Hoare who said "There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult."
"Types are essentially assertions about a program." - Dan Ingalls
"In those days at Bell Labs the amenities were great - you could call a telephone number and get a transcription. You know, leave a message and say you want it written up and it'll appear the next day in your inbox as sheets of paper. And [my coworker], after we talked about the file system on the blackboard for a little while, picked up the phone, called a number, and read the blackboard into the phone. It came back and it was about as close to a design document as we got except that it had homonyms that you wouldn't believe." - Ken Thompson, on the project that became Unix
"[Code is beautiful that has] a simple straightforward solution to a problem; that has some intrinsic structure and obviousness about it that isn't obvious from the problem itself." - Fran Allen
"When I say, 'You don't get credit because the program works. We're going to the next level. Working programs are a given,' they say, 'Oh.'" - Bernie Cosell
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