Difficulty quotes

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Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander

Random Information Design

“The average designer scans whatever information he happens on, consults a consultant now and then when faced by extra-special difficulties, and introduces randomly selected information into forms otherwise dreamt up in the artist's studio of his mind.”
Keywords: Design_quotes Information_quotes Consultant_quotes Creativity_quotes Average_quotes Scan_quotes Difficulty_quotes Random_quotes Selection_quotes Form_quotes Dream_quotes Artist_quotes Studio_quotes Mind_quotes

Rapid Change

“At the same time that problems increase in quantity, complexity, and difficulty, they also change faster than before.”
Keywords: Problem_quotes Size_quotes Complexity_quotes Fast_quotes Time_quotes Quantity_quotes Increase_quotes Difficulty_quotes Change_quotes

American_Mottos

Willing Hearts Skillful Hands

“With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer.”
  • Source: Inscription on the memorial to the Seabees (U.S. Naval Construction Battalions), between Memorial Bridge and Arlington Cemetery, dedicated 1974. Also motto of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, according to The Home Book of American Quotations, ed. Bruce Bohle, p. 35 (1967), which says that other branches of the service also used this slogan. Newsweek, March 8, 1943, p. 34, attributes this “cocky slogan” to the Army Air Forces. A higher comparative, “The impossible we do at once; the miraculous takes a little longer,” was said to be the motto of the Army Service Forces (The New York Times, November 4, 1945, pp. 2E, 6E.) This echoes a remark attributed to Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, Louis XVI’s minister of finance. Marie Antoinette asked him something in a tone that brooked no refusal, adding that perhaps it would be difficult. He replied, “If it is only difficult, it is done; if it is impossible, we shall see.” (J. F. Michaud, Biographie Universelle, vol. 6, p. 427.)
Keywords: Willing_quotes Heart_quotes Skill_quotes Hand_quotes Difficulty_quotes Impossibility_quotes Long_quotes

Friedrich_Ludwig_Bauer

Software Engineering Too Difficult

“Software engineering is the part of computer science which is too difficult for the computer scientist.”
  • Source: [Bauer; 1972]. A paper entitled Software Engineering. Written by Friedrich Ludwig Bauer. Published 1972 in Information Processing 71: Proceedings of Ifip Congress 1971, volume 1. ISBN: 9780720420630.
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes Programming_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Part_quotes Computer_Science_quotes Computing_quotes Science_quotes Difficulty_quotes Scientist_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Hardest Part of Design

“The hardest part of design is deciding what to design.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Chapter 3, page 22.
Keywords: Design_quotes Difficulty_quotes Decision_quotes Hard_quotes Part_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Programming_Straining

“If programming symbols were made of steel, we would surely notice men and women straining to hoist thousand-pound beams with a single hand. But alas, their weight is intellectual...”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 111.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Difficulty_quotes Straining_quotes Steel_quotes Effort_quotes Weight_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Symbol_quotes Notice_quotes Men_quotes Women_quotes Hoist_quotes Hand_quotes

Programming Miracle

“Computer programming is a bit of a miracle.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 128.
Keywords: Computer_quotes Programming_quotes Miracle_quotes Difficulty_quotes

Difficult Programming Shortcuts

“So developing software correctly is difficult. Developing vaccines and medications without side effects is difficult. But neither enterprise will benefit from shortcuts.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 128.
Keywords: Development_quotes Software_quotes Correctness_quotes Difficulty_quotes Programming_quotes Vaccine_quotes Medicine_quotes Side_Effect_quotes Enterprise_quotes Shortcut_quotes Benefit_quotes

Anthony_Burgess

Art Begins With Craft

“Art begins with craft, and there is no art until a craft has been mastered. You can't create unless you're willing to subordinate the creative impulse to the construction of a form. But the learning of a craft takes time, and we all think we're entitled to short cuts. Art is rare and sacred and hard work, and there ought to be a wall of fire around it.”
  • Source: Anthony Burgess (1986). But Do Blondes Prefer Gentlemen?: Homage to Qwert Yuiop, and Other Writings, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Keywords: Art_quotes Craft_quotes Creativity_quotes Construction_quotes Learning_quotes Time_quotes Shortcut_quotes Rare_quotes Sacred_quotes Hard_quotes Difficulty_quotes Fire_quotes Wall_quotes Master_quotes Subordinate_quotes Impulse_quotes Form_quotes Work_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Humble Programmers

"We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers."
  • Source: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra in an article entitled The Humble Programmer. Written by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Published 1972 in Communications of the ACM, volume 15, number 10. DOI: 10.1145/355604.361591.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Appreciation_quotes Difficulty_quotes Modesty_quotes Humility_quotes Elegant_quotes Mind_quotes Limitation_quotes Programmer_quotes Approach_quotes Task_quotes Modest_quotes Language_quotes Respect_quotes Intrinsic_quotes Human_quotes

Programming is Difficult

“Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.”
Keywords: Programming_quotes Difficulty_quotes Branch_quotes Mathematics_quotes Apply_quotes Poor_quotes

David_A_Dixon

Numerical Simulation

“Numerical simulation is now becoming a trusted partner with experiment. Simulations ... can replace experiments [that] cannot be done because of cost or experimental difficulty.”
Keywords: Numerical_quotes Simulation_quotes Trust_quotes Experiment_quotes Cost_quotes Difficulty_quotes Partner_quotes

Dwight_D_Eisenhower

Crises and Balance

“Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs, balance between the private and the public economy, balance between the cost and hoped for advantages, balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable, balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual, balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Crisis_quotes Balance_quotes Action_quotes Miracle_quotes Solution_quotes Difficulty_quotes Defense_quotes Cure_quotes Program_quotes Research_quotes Possibility_quotes Consider_quotes Weighing_quotes Private_quotes Public_quotes Economy_quotes Cost_quotes Advantage_quotes Nation_quotes Necessary_quotes Comfort_quotes Desire_quotes Requirements_quotes Duty_quotes Individual_quotes Future_quotes Judgment_quotes Welfare_quotes Progress_quotes Frustration_quotesContinue_quotes Foreign_quotes Domestic_quotes Great_quotes Small_quotes Recurring_quotes Temptation_quotes Feel_quotes Spectacular_quotes Element_quotes Development_quotes Unrealistic_quotes Ill_quotes Agriculture_quotes Dramatic_quotes Expansion_quotes Basic_quotes Applied_quotes Promise_quotes Road_quotes Travel_quotes Proposal_quotes Need_quotes Essential_quotes Imbalance_quotes

Richard_Feynman

Unlike Ordinary Experience

“Because atomic behavior is so unlike ordinary experience, it is very difficult to get used to and it appears peculiar and mysterious to everyone, both to the novice and to the experienced physicist. Even the experts do not understand it the way they would like to, and it is perfectly reasonable that they should not, because all of direct, human experience and of human intuition applies to large objects. We know how large objects will act, but things on a small scale just do not act that way. So we have to learn about them in a sort of abstract or imaginative fashion and not by connection with our direct experience.”
Keywords: Quantum_quotes Atomic_quotes Ordinary_quotes Experience_quotes Difficulty_quotes Peculiar_quotes Mystery_quotes Novice_quotes Physicist_quotes Expert_quotes Reason_quotes Intuition_quotes Humanity_quotes Large_quotes Small_quotes Scale_quotes Abstraction_quotes Imagination_quotes Connection_quotes Understand_quotes Direct_quotes Apply_quotes Act_quotes Learn_quotes Object_quotes Fashion_quotes

Henry_Ford

Thinking is Hard

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
  • Source: As quoted in The High School Teacher, Vol. XI (1935), p. 60.
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Hard_quotes Difficulty_quotes Probability_quotes Reason_quotes Work_quotes Few_quotes

Eugene_Grace

Initiative

“The man who has in him the stuff of which success is made is never afraid to accept responsibilities; then, when he gets responsibility, he doesn't regard it lightly; nor does he ever seek to shirk the consequences or attempt to blame anyone else when anything goes wrong. My chief difficulty in building up our huge organization is to find men able and willing to take and discharge responsibilities. So many men can only go to the point of doing routine duties; when given tasks requiring initiative and readiness to shoulder responsibility, they continually run to the boss to get instructions. I am constantly on the lookout for fellows who are not afraid to use their own judgment, and, although they may make quite a few mistakes, yet they at least show executive potentialities... Of course there must be more than willingness to accept responsibility and to exercise initiative; willingness must be accompanied by ability, knowledge, and the judgment which can come only from having thoroughly mastered one's business.”
Keywords: Man_quotes Stuff_quotes Success_quotes Fear_quotes Responsibility_quotes Regard_quotes Seek_quotes Consequence_quotes Attempt_quotes Blame_quotes Wrong_quotes Difficulty_quotes Build_quotes Organization_quotes Find_quotes Ability_quotes Willing_quotes Routine_quotes Duty_quotes Task_quotes Initiative_quotes Continuous_quotes Run_quotes Boss_quotes Instruction_quotes Lookout_quotes Judgment_quotes Knowledge_quotes Master_quotes Business_quotes Mistake_quotes Executive_quotes Potential_quotes Shirk_quotes

Tony_Hoare

Software Design

“…there are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.”
  • Source: Hoare, C. A. R. (1981). The 1980 ACM Turing Award Lecture: The Emperor’s Old Clothes. Communications of the ACM, 24(2), 75–83.
Keywords: Construction_quotes Software_quotes Design_quotes Simplicity_quotes Defect_quotes Complexity_quotes Difficulty_quotes Obvious_quotes Method_quotes

All Problems Technical

“Basically, all problems are technical. If you know what you want to do and you have the necessary technical background, there is no point in making a great management problem out of it. Obviously, a certain amount of resource control and personnel work has to go on but that’s all. On the other hand, you might have a task which is difficult in that you don’t know what you have to do, and that even if you did you wouldn’t know how to do it. Since this is a very difficult task you can start out with the hypothesis that it will take a great number of people. Following down this slippery slope of reasoning, as soon as you have a very large number of people you have a very large management problem. But it all originated out of the fact that you didn’t know what you were doing, or how to do it.”
  • Source: C.A.R.Hoare in Ercoli, P., Bauer, F. L., Aron, J. D., & Hoare, C. A. R. (1970). Software Engineering Techniques: Report on a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee, Rome, Italy, 27th to 31 October 1969. (J. N. Buxton & B. Randell, Eds.). Retrieved from http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1969.PDF.
Keywords: Problem_quotes Technology_quotes Knowledge_quotes Management_quotes Resource_quotes Control_quotes Personnel_quotes Work_quotes Difficulty_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Effort_quotes Slippery_quotes Slope_quotes Reason_quotes Large_quotes Ignorance_quotes Want_quotes Necessary_quotes Background_quotes Task_quotes People_quotes Originate_quotes Fact_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Change Mind

“One of the major difficulties is the difficulty of changing people's minds.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 25:45.
Keywords: Major_quotes Difficulty_quotes Change_quotes People_quotes Mind_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Intuitive Heuristics

“This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”
Keywords: Essential_quotes Intuition_quotes Heuristics_quotes Difficulty_quotes Question_quotes Answer_quotes Easy_quotes Notice_quotes Substitution_quotes

Kenneth_W_Kolence

Large Systems

“The basic problem is that certain classes of systems are placing demands on us which are beyond our capabilities and our theories and methods of design and production at this time ... It is large systems that are encountering great difficulties. We should not expect the production of such systems to be easy.”
Keywords: Problem_quotes System_quotes Class_quotes Demand_quotes Beyond_quotes Capability_quotes Theory_quotes Methodology_quotes Production_quotes Large_quotes Difficulty_quotes Easy_quotes Design_quotes Encounter_quotes

Isaac_Newton

Analysis

“As in Mathematicks, so in Natural Philosophy, the Investigation of difficult Things by the Method of Analysis, ought ever to precede the Method of Composition. This Analysis consists in making Experiments and Observations, and in drawing general Conclusions from them by Induction, and admitting of no Objections against the Conclusions, but such as are taken from Experiments, or other certain Truths. For Hypotheses are not to be regarded in experimental Philosophy.”
  • Source: Sir Isaac Newton, From Opticks, (1704, 2nd ed. 1718), Book 3, Query 31, 380.
Keywords: Mathematics_quotes Nature_quotes Philosophy_quotes Investigation_quotes Difficulty_quotes Methodology_quotes Analysis_quotes Precede_quotes Composition_quotes Experiment_quotes Observation_quotes Conclusion_quotes Induction_quotes Objection_quotes Truth_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Regard_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Human Communication Limits

“A man can communicate with about five colleagues on a software project without too much difficulty. Likewise he can supervise about five people and know pretty well what they are doing. One would structure 120 people in three levels, in which no man is talking to more than about eight people, both across his level and up and down”
Keywords: Humanity_quotes Communication_quotes Colleague_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Difficulty_quotes Supervision_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Do_quotes Structure_quotes Level_quotes Talking_quotes Up_quotes Down_quotes Across_quotes

Useful Software Systems

“We recognize that a practical problem of considerable difficulty and importance has arisen: The successful design, production and maintenance of useful software systems. The importance is obvious and the more so since we see only greater growth in demands and requirements in the future. The consequences of poor performance, poor design, instability and mismatching of promise and performance are not going to be limited to the computing fraternity, or even their nearest neighbors, but will affect considerable sections of our society whose ability to forgive is inversely proportional to their ignorance of the difficulties we face. The source of difficulty is distributed through the whole problem, easy to identify, and yet its cure is hard to pinpoint so that systematic improvement can be gotten.”
Keywords: Usefulness_quotes Practical_quotes Problem_quotes Difficulty_quotes Importance_quotes Arise_quotes Success_quotes Design_quotes Production_quotes Maintain_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Obvious_quotes Great_quotes Growth_quotes Demand_quotes Requirements_quotes Consequence_quotes Poor_quotes Performance_quotes Instability_quotes Mismatch_quotes Promise_quotes Go_quotes Limitation_quotes Computing_quotes Fraternity_quotes Near_quotes Neighbor_quotes Affect_quotes Considerable_quotes Section_quotes Society_quotes Ability_quotes Forgiveness_quotes Inverse_quotes Proportion_quotes Ignorance_quotes Face_quotes Source_quotes Distributed_quotes Easy_quotes Identify_quotes Cure_quotes Hard_quotes Pinpoint_quotes Improve_quotes

Rittel_and_Webber

Planning Problems are Wicked Problems

“A great many barriers keep us from perfecting such a planning/governing system. Theory is inadequate for decent forecasting, our intelligence is insufficient to our tasks, plurality of objectives held by pluralities of politics makes it impossible to pursue unitary aims, and so on. The difficulties attached to rationality are tenacious, and we have so far been unable to get untangled from their web. This is partly because the classical paradigm of science and engineering - the paradigm that has underlain modern professionalism - is not applicable to the problems of open societal systems.”
Keywords: Great_quotes Barrier_quotes Keep_quotes Perfect_quotes Plan_quotes Govern_quotes System_quotes Theory_quotes Inadequate_quotes Decent_quotes Forecast_quotes Intelligence_quotes Insufficient_quotes Task_quotes Pluralistic_quotes Objective_quotes Political_quotes Impossibility_quotes Pursuit_quotes Unitary_quotes Aim_quotes Difficulty_quotes Attach_quotes Rational_quotes Tenacious_quotes Untangle_quotes Web_quotes Classical_quotes Paradigm_quotes Science_quotes Engineering_quotes Modern_quotes Professional_quotes Applicable_quotes Problem_quotes Society_quotes

Friedrich_Schiller

Voice of Truth

“It is difficult to discriminate the voice of truth from amid the clamour raised by heated partisans.”
  • Source: Friedrich Schiller, Original German in Schiller's ‘Sammtliche Werke’ (1834), 934. With a translation, in James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 382.
  • Note: Original German: “Schwer ist es, aus dem Geschrei erhitzter Parteien die Stimme der Wahrheit zu unterscheiden.”
Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Discrimination_quotes Voice_quotes Truth_quotes Clamour_quotes Rise_quotes Heat_quotes Partisan_quotes Source_quotes

Upton_Sinclair

Salary and Understanding

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
  • Source: Sinclair Jr., U.B. (1935). 'I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked' University of California Press, 1994, p. 109.
Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Man_quotes Understanding_quotes Salary_quotes Dependency_quotes

John_Steinbeck

Great Difficulty with Good Hypothesis

“There is one great difficulty with a good hypothesis. When it is completed and rounded, the corners smooth and the content cohesive and coherent, it is likely to become a thing in itself, a work of art. It is then like a finished sonnet or a painting completed. One hates to disturb it. Even if subsequent information should shoot a hole in it, one hates to tear it down because it once was beautiful and whole. One of our leading scientists, having reasoned a reef in the Pacific, was unable for a long time to reconcile the lack of a reef, indicated by soundings, with the reef his mind told him was there.”
  • Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 179-80.
Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Good_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Completion_quotes Round_quotes Corner_quotes Smooth_quotes Content_quotes Cohesion_quotes Coherence_quotes Work_quotes Art_quotes Finishing_quotes Sonnet_quotes Painting_quotes Hate_quotes Disturb_quotes Subsequent_quotes Information_quotes Shoot_quotes Hole_quotes Tear_quotes Down_quotes Beauty_quotes Whole_quotes Lead_quotes Scientist_quotes Reason_quotes Reef_quotes Pacific_quotes Unable_quotes Long_quotes Time_quotes Reconciliation_quotes Lack_quotes Indication_quotes Sound_quotes Mind_quotes Tell_quotes There_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Measuring Performance

“One consequence of the size of a large project is that performance becomes more difficult to measure. Part of this difficulty stems from the scale of things, which makes it impossible for a single mind to be making the judgment of all the parts.”
  • Source: Chapter 6. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Consequence_quotes Size_quotes Large_quotes Project_quotes Performance_quotes Measurement_quotes Difficulty_quotes Scale_quotes Impossibility_quotes Mind_quotes Judgment_quotes Part_quotes Complexity_quotes Single_quotes Stem_quotes

Amateur and Professional Programmers

“The amateur... is looking for a way to get the job done. If he runs into difficulty, all he wants is to surmount it — the manner of doing so is of little consequence. Not so, however, for the professional. She may well be aware of numerous ways of circumnavigating the problem at hand. She may even employ one of them for the immediate purpose of getting the job done. But her work does not stop there; it begins there. It begins because she must understand why she did not understand, in order that she may prepare herself for the programs she may someday write which will require that understanding. The amateur, then, is learning about his problem... The professional, conversely, is learning about her profession — programming — and the problem being programmed is only one incidental step in her process of development.”
  • Source: Chapter 7. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Amateur_quotes Professional_quotes Job_quotes Difficulty_quotes Circumnavigation_quotes Problem_quotes Work_quotes Understanding_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Preparation_quotes Process_quotes Development_quotes Look_quotes Way_quotes Surmount_quotes Manner_quotes Do_quotes Little_quotes Consequence_quotes Numerous_quotes Hand_quotes Employ_quotes Immediate_quotes Purpose_quotes Stop_quotes Begin_quotes Order_quotes Write_quotes Someday_quotes Require_quotes Learning_quotes Converse_quotes Profession_quotes Incidental_quotes Step_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Automated Evaluation

“The system automatically computed efficiency ratings for each worker by comparing the amount of time it took to complete a job had been priced. Such calculations with the amount of time for which it could have been generated only by a computer system, since 'we could never have enough clerks to compute these kinds of ratios.' The ratings were considered management information and were not accessible to the craftworkers. Many foremen cautioned against taking the ratings at face value. The most experienced craftsperson frequently was loaded with the most difficult assignments. That individual might show the worst efficiency rating simply because his or her assignments were the most complex and required more than the assigned time.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 331. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: System_quotes Automation_quotes Evaluation_quotes Efficiency_quotes Rating_quotes Time_quotes Calculation_quotes Computer_quotes Management_quotes Information_quotes Accessibility_quotes Transparency_quotes Worker_quotes Craft_quotes Supervision_quotes Surveillance_quotes Experience_quotes Difficulty_quotes Assignment_quotes Individuality_quotes Complexity_quotes Requirements_quotes Computation_quotes Compare_quotes Amount_quotes Job_quotes Price_quotes Clerk_quotes Ratio_quotes Craftworker_quotes Foremen_quotes Face_quotes Value_quotes Frequent_quotes Load_quotes Worse_quotes
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