Coding Proficiency Quotes

If you can’t program it, you haven’t understood it.

The most important people is to pick people who like to write software and who are good at... good developers like working with each other. And they... they reinforce each other's skills.

I'm still a really shitty programmer, but I know enough to hack a prototype together.

One of the big lessons of a big project is you don't want people that aren't really programmers programming, you'll suffer for it!

In the information age, the barriers [to entry into programming] just aren't there. The barriers are self imposed. If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don't need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We waded across rivers.

A great lathe operator commands several times the wage of an average lathe operator, but a great writer of software code is worth 10,000 times the price of an average software writer.

I used to want to be a computer programmer when I was younger. We got an Apple II Plus when I was, like, 11 and I wrote programs and BASIC on that, like I think a lot of people did, but I have no idea how to program in the current languages at all.

Owning a computer without programming is like having a kitchen and using only the microwave oven

I've known people who have not mastered their tools who are good programmers, but not a tool master who remained a mediocre programmer.

Even if you're going into a field that has nothing to do with computer science, just having that way of analytical thinking and being able to process information and break it down is important no matter what you're doing. Having that knowledge of code is something that you can apply to your daily life.

Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn

Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter.

The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it.

A good engineering interview will include some set of difficult problems to solve. It might even require that the candidate write a short program. In addition, it will test the candidate's knowledge of the tools she uses in great depth.

Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

A great coder can easily be 50 times more productive than a mediocre one, while bad ones ultimately have negative productivity.

There are different levels of scripting that we all use; I think I'm the most improvised of the three, and probably Andrew's the most written. But all of that is in pursuit of similar things, and I think that we kind of recognize that in each other.

The situation is so much better for programmers today - a cheap used PC, a linux CD, and an internet account, and you have all the tools necessary to work your way to any level of programming skill you want to shoot for.