The Two Things about Computer Programming
15th November 2010
“For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay, here are the Two Things about economics. One: Incentives matter. Two: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Computer Programming:
- Every problem can be solved by breaking it up into a series of smaller problems.
- The computer will always do exactly what you tell it to.
Software Engineering:
- Writing the code is the easy part. Writing it so someone else can understand it later is the important part.
- Make it work, then make it elegant, then make it fast.