The number of lines of code a programmer can write in a fixed period of time is the same independent of the language used.

Design bugs are often subtle and occur by evolution with early assumptions being forgotten as new features or uses are added to systems.

To our dismay, users who had been enduring several hour waits between jobs run under batch processing were suddenly restless when response times were more than a second.

Because one has to be an optimist to begin an ambitious project, it is not surprising that underestimation of completion time is the norm.

The use of the high level language made each programmer a factor of 5 to 10 more productive in a coding sense and more concerned with the semantics than the syntax of modules.

The computer field is intoxicated with change. We have seen galloping growth over a period of four decades and it still does not seem to be slowing down. The field is not mature yet and already it accounts for a significant percentage of the Gross National Product both directly and indirectly.

The general problem with ambitious systems is complexity. [...] it is important to emphasize the value of simplicity and elegance, for complexity has a way of compounding difficulties.