Equally, the Internet interprets attempts at proprietary control as threats and mobilizes to defeat them.

Prototype, then polish. Get it working before you optimize it

In early 1993, a hostile observer might have had grounds for thinking that the Unix story was almost played out, and with it the fortunes of the hacker tribe.

We hackers are a playful bunch; we'll hack anything, including language, if it looks like fun (thus our tropism for puns). Deep down, we like confusing people who are stuffier and less mentally agile than we are, especially when they're bosses. There's a little bit of the mad scientist in all hackers, ready to discombobulate the world and flip authority the finger - especially if we can do it with snazzy special effects.

Of course, C proved indispensible to the developers of all its alternatives. Dig down through enough implementation layers under any of the other languages surveyed here and you will find a core implemented in pure, portable C

Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse)

A security system is only as secure as its secret. Beware of pseudo-secrets.