“Conventional programming languages are growing ever more enormous, but not stronger. Inherent defects at the most basic level cause them to be both fat and weak.”— John Backus
“The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.”— Edsger W. Dijkstra
“What I want is a language in which I can write programs that I have a chance of getting right.”— James J. Horning
“Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.”— Hal Abelson
“SICP is not about a programming language. It is about the process of computation and how to think about it.”— Hal Abelson
“For twenty years I have been successfully hiding behind the slogan of 'I am a programmer'. From now on I shall be forced to say that I am a scientist, and for the rest of my life I shall have to live up to the title.”— John Backus
“Show me your flowchart and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowchart; it'll be obvious.”— Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
“For me, the most fun part of programming is the pleasing aesthetic of well-written code.”— Bill Budge
“The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and avoids clever tricks like the plague.”— Edsger W. Dijkstra
“That's the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers.”— Frederik Pohl
“Programming is not a zero-sum game. Teaching something to a fellow programmer doesn't take it away from you. I'm happy to share what I can, because I'm in it for the long haul.”— John Carmack
“Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!”— Edsger W. Dijkstra
“To me, programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge.”— Grace Hopper