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About this quote

What does it mean?
Random effort without coordination or design cannot produce quality software.
In plain terms
You can't get good code just by throwing people at a keyboard.
What can you take from it?
Quality software requires thoughtful design, not just volume.

Where it applies

  • code reviews
  • project planning
  • team management

Putting it to work

  • emphasize design
  • structure team work

Questions to consider

  • What separates good code from random code?
  • How much coordination is needed?

Another view

Sometimes community effort does produce good results.

More from Linus Torvalds

  1. You know you're brilliant, but maybe you'd like to understand what you did 2 weeks from now.

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  2. The main reason there are no raw devices [in Linux] is that I personally think that raw devices are a stupid idea.

    Permalink to quote #11
  3. If you need more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix your program.

    Permalink to quote #8

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