Brian Kernighan

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it.

C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.

UNIX is a simple, coherent system, but it takes a genius to understand its simplicity.

The most important property of a program is whether it accomplishes the intention of its user.

Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.

The only way to write correct programs is to write simple programs.

Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming.

The best programs are the ones that are written to be thrown away.

If you have to spend a lot of time thinking about how to use a tool, it's probably not a very good tool.

The C language is a bit like a sharp knife: it's very powerful, but you can cut yourself with it.

The most effective debugging tool is still careful thought, coupled with judiciously placed print statements.

The only way to make a program fast is to make it correct first.

Good programming is not about writing code, it's about solving problems.

The UNIX philosophy is to make each program do one thing well. If you want to do a new task, build a new tool, rather than complicate an old tool.

The most important thing in programming is to understand what you're trying to do.

The best way to predict the future is to implement it.

The C programming language is a language that's designed to be used by programmers who know what they're doing.

The fundamental problem of programming is that we're trying to make machines do what we want, and machines are very literal.

The best code is no code at all.