We have found to our horror that computer programs live on for decades, long after the machines and compilers that caused their misshape have died. We thus live in the purgatory created by our hackerish enthusiasm. We must force ourselves to break out of this cycle by writing excellent programs, and then molding compilers and machines to make these programs efficient, rather than vice versa. Excellent programs do not happen by accident, but require very hard work. We must proactively seek elegance, as elegance will not find us on its own.
Teaching is the process of curing the amnesia into which every generation is born.
Teaching is the opposite of Alzheimer's disease in that it builds memory and consciousness, rather than stealing them. William Thorsell Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute. From the introduction to Crash .