Programming Wisdom

To give context on age, Grace Hopper began computing at 38, completed the first compiler at 46, helped shape COBOL at 53, kept developing COBOL for the Navy in her 70s, retired from the Navy at 80 & then became a consultant for the Digital Equipment Corporation. v/@cooperx86 & photo v/Cynthia Johnson & Getty Images

Software developers: Do you ever use any mnemonics on a frequent basis? If so, what are they? (Like in music how you have stuff like "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor" to remember EGBDF.)

As AI-generated code becomes the norm, irreverent comments become a form of human watermarking.

Called shot: AI will help software engineers become product managers faster than product managers becoming software engineers

"The secret to optimization is changing the problem to make it easier to optimize." – John Carmack

@cooperx86 Grace, not you.

@cooperx86 Still our ultimate programming hero.

To put age into perspective: Grace Hopper first entered computing at age 38, completed the first compiler at age 46, influenced the design of COBOL at age 53, wrote COBOL for the Navy through her 70s, retired from the Navy aged 80 and *then* became a consultant for DEC(!) 😍

"Theory and practice sometimes clash. And when that happens, theory loses. Every single time." - Linus Torvalds

@RealEmirHan I hate every ape I see, from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z. No, you'll never make a monkey out of me.

(And one developer with ten AI agents can fail to bother finishing at all? 😏)

"What one programmer can do in one month, two programmers can do in two months." - Fred Brooks

@ShadBalti @grok I don't know about Grok, but AI is what inspired posting this quote. It reminds me of the dot com boom somewhat. Buying stuff online was clearly a great idea, but a lot of companies went too hard too quickly.

@CodeWisdom This hits home for AI. Everyone’s buzzing about tools like @grok today, but I bet in 20 years, we’ll look back and realize we barely scratched the surface of their potential. What do you think Grok’s long-term impact will be?

"We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run." – Amara's Law

@s8mb What about if bigger accounts try it?

Once you are a somewhat "big account" on Twitter you have to be wary of smaller accounts trying to pick fights with you to use your prominence to pull themselves up. I've even noticed some publications trying to do this. Something to be aware of.

@cooperx86 The GOAT

Say what you will about the man but delivering programming rants in a bathrobe isn't a job AI will be taking over any time soon. (I'm mostly saying this to goad people into trying.)

"Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding." - Burt Rutan

@mmaug You're secretly Martin Fowler.

@CodeWisdom Read this to my GF (also a programmer) and her first comment was "That's YOUR line! Definitely your line."

"Now I'm a pretty lazy person and am prepared to work quite hard in order to avoid work." – Martin Fowler

"Most won't care about the craft. Cherish the ones that do, meet the rest where they are." – Chris Kiehl

"Let the code run free, if it needs to be debugged, it will come back." – Unknown