Mechanical rules are never a substitute for clarity of thought.

… it is a fundamental principle of testing that you must know in advance the answer each test case is supposed to produce. If you don’t, you are not testing; you are experimenting.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Answers Fundamentals Principles
Another effective [debugging] technique is to explain your code to someone else. This will often cause you to explain the bug to yourself.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Learning Mind Sorry
Trivia rarely affect efficiency. Are all the machinations worth it, when their primary effect is to make the code less readable?
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Efficiency Statistics Trivia
Mechanical rules are never a substitute for clarity of thought.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Clarity Substitute Thought
Don’t document bad code – rewrite it.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Code Engineering Programming Quality Software
Trying to outsmart a compiler defeats much of the purpose of using one.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Defeat Purpose Trying
Do what you think is interesting, do something that you think is fun and worthwhile, because otherwise you won’t do it well anyway.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Fun Interesting Thinking
C is a razor-sharp tool, with which one can create an elegant and efficient program or a bloody mess.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Program Razors Tools
Believe the terrain, not the map
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Believe Maps Terrain
If you had done something twice, you are likely to do it again.
BRIAN KERNIGHAN

Done Mathematics

More Brian Kernighan Quotes