Brooksisms And Other Nuggets of Programming Wisdom Chris Clark May 12, 2016

Who am I? Some random programmer. Worked with some other random programmers. Managed programmers for a while. Opinionated.

You are a Programmer. Beware Imposter Syndrome. Who are you? You are a Programmer. Beware Imposter Syndrome.

Another programmer. Also managed programmers. Also wrote some books. Who is Brooks? Another programmer. Also managed programmers. Also wrote some books.

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Brooks' Law Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

Hofstadter's Law It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

Knowing the Problem X / Y Z

0th Question of Programming What is the problem we're trying to solve?

nth Question of Programming What is the problem we're trying to solve?

∞th Question of Programming What is the PROBLEM we're trying to solve?

Simplicity

Simple is better than Complex. Complex is better than Complicated. The Zen of Python

You can't communicate complexity, only an awareness of it. Alan Perlis's Epigrams in Programming #105 SIGPLAN (September, 1982)

If it is hard to explain, it is not a good idea. If it is easy to explain, it might be a good idea. The Zen of Python

Clear > Clever

Technical Debt Rigidity Time

Plan to throw one away; you will, anyhow.* Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month

Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written, and another for which it wasn't. Alan Perlis's Epigrams in Programming #6 SIGPLAN (September, 1982)

First make it functional, Then make it beautiful, Then make it fast. Unknown

Knuth's Optimization Principle Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. Phil Karlton

Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live. Unknown

Read more code than you write. Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Seek honest feedback.

The stuff you don't know you don't know The stuff you know you don't know The stuff you know The stuff you don't know you don't know

Now go be programmers.