How good the design is doesn't matter near as much as whether the design is getting better or worse. If it is getting better, day by day, I can live with it forever. If it is getting worse, I will die.

I mean, source code in files; how quaint, how seventies!

I don't like the feeling, but I've got to say that a little fear makes me a more focused, more responsible programmer.

The system metaphor is a story that everyone--customers, programmers, and managers--can tell about how the system works.

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

How good the design is doesn't matter near as much as whether the design is getting better or worse. If it is getting better, day by day, I can live with it forever. If it is getting worse, I will die.

Make it work, make it right, make it fast.