John Carmack Quotes

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

Learn when and how to use different data structures and their algorithms in your own code. This is harder as a student, as the problem assignments you'll work through just won't impart this knowledge. That's fine.

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

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

If you write your own tools, you can sort of see new things, design new things.

At MIT, mostly what I did was documentation. I sort of read things. Wrote some descriptions of various aspects of the file system. Did not really do very much programming at all. At least on Multics.

A lot of people assume that creating software is purely a solitary activity where you sit in an office with the door closed all day and write lots of code.

It's something special being able to build a program up.

If you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?

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.

Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.

The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.

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

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.

Learning how to code and program computers when I was a kid was one of the best choices I made growing up. By writing code, I learned how to bring my dreams to life, how to budget, and how to build stuff. Whatever path you choose in life - being an artist, an engineer, a lawyer, a teacher, or even a politician, you will give yourself a huge leg up if you learn how to code.

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it.

Programming is not a science. Programming is a craft.

The hardest part of the software task is arriving at a complete and consistent specification, and much of the essence of building a program is in fact the debugging of the specification.

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.

To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge.

At forty, I was too old to work as a programmer myself anymore; writing code is a young person’s job.

On a purely technical side, I'm really very happy with how Linux gets used in a very wide set of different areas. It's important for development.

Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost.

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

I have never seen an experienced programmer who routinely made detailed flow charts before beginning to write programs.