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When I write software, I know that it will fail, either…

“When I write software, I know that it will fail, either due to my own mistake, or due to some other cause.” quote by Wietse Venema
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“When I write software, I know that it will fail, either due to my own mistake, or due to some other cause.”

Wietse Venema

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Software is inherently error‑prone; failures stem from personal bugs or external factors.

In simple terms: Software will fail because of mistakes or outside causes.

Key Takeaway

Expect failures and design for resilience.

Themes

risk management software engineering reliability

Mood

pragmatic cautious

Type

technical advisory

When to use this quote

  • debugging
  • incident response
  • system design
  • quality assurance

Key Concepts

fault tolerance human error system complexity

Questions to Reflect On

  • How can you balance robustness with simplicity?
  • What safeguards reduce external failure risk?
A Different Perspective

Assuming failure may lead to over‑engineering and wasted effort.

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