6 Linus Torvalds Quotes on Software development

Linus Torvalds quotes on software development

1. I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.

10. An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never make a good program.

15. See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too ;-)

16. Portability is for people who cannot write new programs.

32. The NIH syndrome (Not Invented Here) is a disease.

64. Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small _trivial_ project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you'll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision. So start small, and think about the details. Don't think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn't solve some fairly immediate need, it's almost certainly over-designed. And don't expect people to jump in and help you. That's not how these things work. You need to get something half-way _useful_ first, and then others will say 'hey, that _almost_ works for me', and they'll get involved in the project.