The Best Practice Is Inspired By Theory.

An Algorithm Must Be Seen To Be Believed.

The Enjoyment Of One's Tools Is An Essential Ingredient Of Successful Work.

Computer Programming Is An Art, Because It Applies Accumulated Knowledge To The World, Because It Requires Skill And Ingenuity, And Especially Because It Produces Objects Of Beauty. A Programmer Who Subconsciously Views Himself As An Artist Will Enjoy What He Does And Will Do It Better.

...one Of The Most Important Lessons, Perhaps, Is The Fact That Software Is Hard. From Now On I Shall Have Significantly Greater Respect For Every Successful Software Tool That I Encounter. During The Past Decade I Was Surprised To Learn That The Writing Of Programs For Tex And Metafont Proved To Be Much More Difficult Than All The Other Things I Had Done (like Proving Theorems Or Writing Books). The Creation Of Good Software Demand A Significiantly Higher Standard Of Accuracy Than Those Other Things Do, And It Requires A Longer Attention Span Than Other Intellectual Tasks.

We Should Forget About Small Efficiencies, Say About 97% Of The Time: Premature Optimization Is The Root Of All Evil.