Complexity control is the central problem of writing software in the real world — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse) — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The easiest programs to use are those which demand the least new learning from the user — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet? — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Linux evolved in a completely different way. From nearly the beginning, it was rather casually hacked on by huge numbers of volunteers… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The central problem of C and C++ is that they require programmers to do their own memory management — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The case can be put less negatively: where network effects (positive network externalities) dominate, open source is likely to be the right… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Treating your users as co-developers is your least-hassle route to rapid code improvement and effective debugging. — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
If Unix could present the same face, the same capabilities, on machines of many different types, it could serve as a common… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The iPhone brand is in worse shape than I thought was even possible. And the implications of that are huge... The iPhone… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“Part of the answer certainly lies in the fact that using software does not decrease its value. Indeed, widespread use of open-source… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Thompson and Ritchie were among the first to realize that hardware and compiler technology had become good enough that an entire operating… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Ugly programs are like ugly suspension bridges: they're much more liable to collapse than pretty ones, because the way humans (especially engineer-humans)… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Lisp was far more powerful and flexible than any other language of its day; in fact, it is still a better design… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“In a future that includes competition from open source, we can expect that the eventual destiny of any software technology will be… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
For the first time, individual hackers could afford to have home machines comparable in power and storage capacity to the minicomputers of… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The combination of threads, remote-procedure-call interfaces, and heavyweight object-oriented design is especially dangerous... if you are ever invited onto a project that… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“Yes, the success of open source does call into some question the utility of command-and-control systems, of secrecy, of centralization, and of… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The reason this is a serious issue is that both the pool of users and the pool of talent available to be… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Rushing to optimize before the bottlenecks are known may be the only error to have ruined more designs than feature creep. From… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The history of Unix should have prepared us for what we’re learning from Linux (and what I’ve verified experimentally on a smaller… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“Indeed, it seems the prescription for highest software productivity is almost a Zen paradox; if you want the most efficient production, you… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“In a future that includes competition from open source, we can expect that the eventual destiny of any software technology will be… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The Lockean logic of custom suggests strongly that open-source hackers observe the customs they do in order to defend some kind of… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“in the absence of money compensation, think “It’s not worth submitting this fix because I’ll have to clean up the patch, write… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“An almost equally important payoff of open source is its utility as a way to propagate open standards and build markets around… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“For purposes of examining the software market itself, it will be helpful to sort kinds of software by how completely the service… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Of course, C proved indispensible to the developers of all its alternatives. Dig down through enough implementation layers under any of the… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The only way to write complex software that won't fall on its face is to hold its global complexity down - to… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The Wesnoth devs are good but not exceptionally so, and we're weighed down by a crappy implementation language (C++). Nevertheless our productivity,… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The Wesnoth devs are good but not exceptionally so, and we're weighed down by a crappy implementation language (C++). Nevertheless our productivity, in terms… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“We’re proving not only that we can do better software, but that joy is an asset.” — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The workstation-class machines built by Sun and others opened up new worlds for hackers. — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“If (as is generally accepted) over 75% of a typical software project’s life-cycle costs will be in maintenance and debugging and extensions, then the… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
The combination of threads, remote-procedure-call interfaces, and heavyweight object-oriented design is especially dangerous... if you are ever invited onto a project that is supposed… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The Linux world behaves in many respects like a free market or an ecology, a collection of selfish agents attempting to maximize utility which… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
“The reason this is a serious issue is that both the pool of users and the pool of talent available to be recruited into… — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
A security system is only as secure as its secret. Beware of pseudo-secrets. — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
Today I am one of the senior technical cadre that makes the Internet work, and a core Linux and open-source developer. — Eric S. Raymond Copy Share Image
