Larry Wall Quotes

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

Somebody writing a subroutine is unbelievable boring.

'Programming' is a four-letter word.

I never have been a coder, outside of when I was twelve or something, like on the Atari 1200 XP or whatever I had.

There are two methods in software design. One is to make the program so simple, there are obviously no errors. The other is to make it so complicated, there are no obvious errors.

You might not think that programmers are artists, but programming is an extremely creative profession. It's logic-based creativity.

No matter what, the way to learn to program is to write code and rewrite it and see it used and rewrite again. Reading other people's code is invaluable as well.

Thus, the standard library will serve as both a tool and as a teacher.

We don't know how to actually code, but I wish that I did. It's so much harder than anyone could possibly imagine - it's like learning German.

I don't know how to code. I should know how to code.

Whether you draw diagrams that generate code or you type at a browser, you are coding.

Coding, it's an endless process of trial and error, of trying to get the right command in the right place, with sometimes just a semicolon making the difference between success and failure. Code breaks and then it falls apart, and it often takes many, many tries until that magical moment when what you're trying to build comes to life.

As technologists, we all write code.

Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming; feedback is the treatment.

A computer program is a message from a man to a machine. The rigidly marshaled syntax and the scrupulous definitions all exist to make intention clear to the dumb engine.

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

As software engineers trained to turn ambiguity into absolutes and fuzzy requirements into ones and zeros, we had a 'eureka' moment when we realized that our training had broader, real-world applications.

People sometimes have a view of programming that is something solitary and very technical. But programming is among the most creative, expressive, and social careers.

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

I took Pascal, and I was terrible. And then, when I went to NYU, I minored in computer science. I just couldn't code. I just didn't have the patience for it.

I worked as a programmer for 16 years.

I didn't do programming language stuff in college at all.

Computer science is not just for smart 'nerds' in hoodies coding in basements. Coding is extremely creative and is an integral part of almost every industry.

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.

After 14 years of running DonorsChoose.org as someone who had never written a line of code, I did do a three-month night school course. After all these years, I could at least speak some of the same vocabulary and have a first-hand appreciation for what my colleagues on the engineering team are doing.