"Curse these personal computers!" cried the novice in anger, "To make them do
anything I must use three or even four editing programs. This is truly
intolerable!"
The master programmer stared at the novice. "And what would you do to remedy
this state of affairs?" he asked.
The novice thought for a moment. "I will design a new editing program," he
said, "a program that will replace all these others."
Suddenly the master struck the novice on the side of his head.
"What did you do that for?" exclaimed the surprised novice.
"I have no wish to learn another editing program," said the master.
And suddenly the novice was enlightened.
-- The Zen of Programming
anything I must use three or even four editing programs. This is truly
intolerable!"
The master programmer stared at the novice. "And what would you do to remedy
this state of affairs?" he asked.
The novice thought for a moment. "I will design a new editing program," he
said, "a program that will replace all these others."
Suddenly the master struck the novice on the side of his head.
"What did you do that for?" exclaimed the surprised novice.
"I have no wish to learn another editing program," said the master.
And suddenly the novice was enlightened.
-- The Zen of Programming
Related:
- A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day.
The master noted the novice's preoccupation with a hand-held computer game.... - A novice went into the master's cubicle and saw a new computer sitting upon
the master's desk.
"What is that computer?" asked the novice. The master placed his hand upon a small box that was connected to the computer by a wire.... - A novice asked the master: "What is the true meaning of programming?
The master replied: "Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are fatigued, program when the moment is right.... - A novice asked the master: "I have a program that sometimes runs and
sometimes aborts.
I have followed the rules of programming, yet I am totally baffled.... - A novice asked the master: "I have a program that sometime runs and
sometimes aborts.
I have followed the rules of programming, yet I am totally baffled.... - A novice programmer was once assigned to code a simple financial
package.
The novice worked furiously for many days, but when his master reviewed his program, he discovered that it contained a screen editor, a set of generalized graphics routines, and artificial intelligence interface, but not the slightest mention of anything financial.... - The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention for the
master programmer to examine.
The magician wheeled a large black box into the master's office while the master waited in silence.... - There once was a master programmer who wrote unstructured programs.
A novice programmer, seeking to imitate him, also began to write unstructured programs.... - A novice of the temple once approached the Chief Priest with a question.
"Master, does Emacs have the Buddha nature?" the novice asked....
