Robert Patterson Quotes

One of the headaches of high-tech test programmes is having to debug the test arrangements before you can start debugging the things you're trying to test.

In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word 'frustration'.

Technical problems are like gremlins. They come and go.

In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.

Writing software is a very intense, very personal thing. You have to have time to work your way through it, to understand it. Then debug it.

It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts, people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.

I really liked figuring things out on my own. Early on in the development of a new version of Windows, I would explore it, I would try out various things, I would see what worked, I would see what didn't work.

Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better!

Troubleshooting a wiring problem is a soul-killing experience.

There has never been an unexpectedly short debugging period in the history of computers.

The notion of getting under the hood and explaining how something works, that's fairly familiar territory to me.

If your project doesn't work, look for the part that you didn't think was important.

I'm not a programmer myself, but I am a very, very picky end user of technology. I like my machines to work they way they're supposed to, all the time.

I enjoy evangelizing Java. In my heart of hearts, I'm an engineer, and what makes me happy is building something that works and having someone use it. That's cool.

When somebody is describing their job as fixing problems for someone, that usually does not suggest that they're dealing with their tax returns.

Depending on the kind of code you write, depending on the kind of ideas you have, you can be creative in problem-solving and you can really make things work in a very gratifying way.

I'm a common sense person who tries to analyze and I have to look at all sides of the issue because you don't want software that only does something but doesn't fix the other errors.

The process of debugging, going an correcting the program and then looking at the behavior, and then correcting it again, and finally iteratively getting it to a working program, is in fact, very close to learning about learning.

If in physics there's something you don't understand, you can always hide behind the uncharted depths of nature. You can always blame God. You didn't make it so complex yourself. But if your program doesn't work, there is no one to hide behind. You cannot hide behind an obstinate nature. If it doesn't work, you've messed up.

If there is a bug in your code than you have to drop everything you're doing and go fix it.

Troubleshooters?" Michael asked. "When there's trouble," I told him, "they shoot it.

In software engineering, we have the term 'technical debt.' When you don't do a job correctly, unaddressed problems become harder and harder to solve.

My dad worked in the IT industry, although I haven't got a clue what he did. He always tells me but it just goes over my head.

The biggest challenges are fixing the problems, to put all the puzzles together.

When things that normally work aren't working, you have to go to something else.