Dennis Ritchie Quotes

I was a programmer.

I worked as a programmer for 16 years.

Learning to program has no more to do with designing interactive software than learning to touch type has to do with writing poetry

'Programming' is a four-letter word.

I started to write a new editor not too long ago and had it about half done after two days.

After graduating in 1973 I went into the programming field.

Every time I can find another engineer to add to the Chrome OS platform, I'm going to hire him.

I don't like programming. It's tedious.

I think everyone should learn how to code.

The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music.

Learning to write programs stretches your mind, and helps you think better, creates a way of thinking about things that I think is helpful in all domains.

If you've never programmed a computer, you should. There's nothing like it in the whole world. When you program a computer, it does exactly what you tell it to do. It's like designing a machine — any machine, like a car, like a faucet, like a gas-hinge for a door — using math and instructions. It's awesome in the truest sense: it can fill you with awe.

There are people who actually like programming. I dont understand why they like programming.

The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating systems.

I am a software engineer, a popular public speaker, and an expert in the Unreal engine.

The programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future.

Code is not like other how-computers-work books. It doesn't have big color illustrations of disk drives with arrows showing how the data sweeps into the computer. Code has no drawings of trains carrying a cargo of zeros and ones. Metaphors and similes are wonderful literary devices but they do nothing but obscure the beauty of technology.

I did write some code in Java once, but that was the island in Indonesia.

I think Leopard is a much better system [than Windows Vista] but OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary.

Programming is how we talk to the machines that are increasingly woven into our lives. If you aren't a programmer, you're like one of the unlettered people of the Middle Ages who were told what to think by the literate priesthood. We had a Renaissance when more people could read and write; we'll have another one when everyone programs.

It's [programming] the only job I can think of where I get to be both an engineer and an artist. There's an incredible, rigorous, technical element to it, which I like because you have to do very precise thinking. On the other hand, it has a wildly creative side where the boundaries of imagination are the only real limitation.

Programming in the abstract sense is what I really enjoy. I enjoy lots of different areas of it... I'm taking a great deal of enjoyment writing device drivers for Linux. I could also be having a good time writing a database manager or something because there are always interesting problems.

I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic.

Computer science is the operating system for all innovation.

Not only is UNIX dead, it's starting to smell really bad.