Steve McConnell Quotes

Realize you won't master data structures until you are working on a real-world problem and discover that a hash is the solution to your performance woes.

I wanted to automate any part of my life that I could. And the over-the-top solutions are more fun than the useful ones.

If he [Thomas Edison] had a needle to find in a haystack, he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to be, but would proceed at once with the feverish diligence of a bee, to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... [J]ust a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.

Don't reinvent the wheel, just realign it.

Technology makes things faster and more cost-effective, but it's not perfect. It requires you to be as flexible as you can be.

Whether you're a programmer or a seamstress, it's all about new techniques, simplifying old techniques, and consolidating steps. Making things go faster - but not worse.

Don't worry that you can't seem to come up with sure billion dollar winners at first. Just do projects for yourself for fun. You'll get better and better.

Support what works and stop supporting what does not work.

It's always good to have a limit because it forces you to think about all the ways to get what you want.

I never map things out in advance. It would be better if I did and more economical in terms of time, but I've found that if you work out a plot line from beginning to end, at the beginning it becomes very rational.

If you see something that doesn't make sense, ask. Change it. Think about dollars, think about your soldiers' time, think about efficiency.

You don't need to change something if it is working.

Essentially, 'Z2' ended up feeling the way that it should, but it was through a considerable amount of trial and error that it took to get there.

There's always a better way to do something.

I don't have any particular loyalties to one technique or another. I'm just trying to use the best for the job.

Approximating involves making a series of educated guesses systematically by partitioning the problem into manageable chunks, identifying assumptions, and then using your general knowledge of the world to fill in the blanks.

I wanted to solve every real estate problem with software.

Let's say I don't need to chase the ball as much as before. You learn to find the shortcuts.

A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.

I believe in anything that works.

Consider spending less time talking, and more time prototyping, especially if you're not very good at talking.

Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

The ultimate goal of mathematics is to eliminate all need for intelligent thought.

Ask yourself always: how can this be done better?

When you program, you want to think you're writing the best possible program for the... for the task you're trying to solve.