Vademecum

Written by Elmar Vogt, Fürth, GERMANY

A Vademecum is a small booklet on a subject, meant to be your handy companion. While not as exhaustive as a genuine reference manual, it is designed to let you quickly find information on a certain subject: This Vademecum omits some details and deprecated features of for the sake of brevity, as it aims to help you find your way around this elegant language in a friendly, trustworthy, and straightforward manner.

The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive because it not only can be economically and scientifically rewarding, it can also be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music. – Donald F. Knuth

Code: A set of symbol whose primary purpose is to restrict comprehension. – Webster’s 3rd International Dictionary

The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware industry. – Henry Petroski

It has been said that the great scientific disciplines are examples of giants standing on the shoulders of other giants. It has also been said that the software industry is an example of midgets standing on the toes of other midgets. – Alan Cooper

That’s the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate is lousy programmers. – Larry Niven

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. – Bill Gates

Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration. – Stan Kelly-Bootle

Saying that Java is nice because it works on all OSes is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders. – Alanna

Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live. – Martin Golding