Daniel Keys Moran Quotes

If you don't handle [exceptions], we shut your application down. That dramatically increases the reliability of the system.

All real programs contain errors until proved otherwise which is impossible.

When you make mistakes during routines, it's not easy getting through them.

In a previous life I wrote the software that controlled my physics experiments. That software had to deal with all kinds of possible failures in equipment. That is probably where I learned to rely on multiple safety nets inside and around my systems.

Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.

When I write software, I know that it will fail, either due to my own mistake, or due to some other cause.

Writing software that's safe even in the presence of bugs makes the challenge even more interesting.

However, writing software without defects is not sufficient. In my experience, it is at least as difficult to write software that is safe - that is, software that behaves reasonably under adverse conditions.

For the robust, an error is information.

One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes.

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

I was eventually persuaded of the need to design programming notations so as to maximize the number of errors which cannot be made, or if made, can be reliably detected at compile time.

A cardinal rule of bureaucracy is that it is better to extend an error than to admit a mistake.

Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cause of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done.

With both people and computers on the job, computer error can be more quickly tracked down and corrected by people and, conversely, human error can be more quickly corrected by computers. What it amounts to is that nothing serious can happen unless human error and computer error take place simultaneously. And that hardly ever happens.

We must accept human error as inevitable - and design around that fact.

Unfortunately, the more complex the system, the greater the room for error.

The justification and the purpose of freedom of speech is not to indulge those who want to speak their minds. It is to prevent error and discover truth. There may be other ways of detecting error and discovering truth than that of free discussion, but so far we have not found them.

You will get something wrong today, and tomorrow, and every day of your life. So will I, and everybody you know. You don’t have a choice about being wrong sometimes: mistakes will be your life-long companion. But you do have a choice about whether to approach your error in terror so you suppress, ignore and repeat it — or to make it your honest, open ally in trying to get to the truth.

An effective way to test code is to exercise it at its natural boundaries

Always consider your intellect to be lacking; otherwise too much faith in it surely leads to error.

Serious accidents are frequently blamed on "human error." Yet careful analysis of such situations shows that the design or installation of the equipment has contributed significantly to the problems. The design team or installers did not pay sufficient attention to the needs of those who would be using the equipment, so confusion or error was almost unavoidable.

Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one's mind right. All of its proofs are very clear and orderly. It is hardly possible for errors to enter into geometrical reasoning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to geometry is not likely to fall into error. In this convenient way, the person who knows geometry acquires intelligence.

The essence of training is to allow error without consequence.

Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.