Ellen Ullman

Multitasking, throughput, efficiency - these are excellent machine concepts, useful in the design of computer systems. But are they principles that nurture human thought and imagination? ”

People imagine that programming is logical, a process like fixing a clock. Nothing could be further from the truth. ”

Reading code is like reading all things written: You have to scribble, make a mess, remind yourself that the work comes to you through trial and error and revision. ”

I hate to see capable, smart people out of work - young or old. ”

I'm in no way saying that women can't take a tough code review. I'm saying that no one should have to take one in a boy-puerile atmosphere. ”

Evolution, dismissed as a sloppy programmer, has seen fit to create us as a wild amalgam of everything that came before us: except for the realm of insects, the whole history of life on earth is inscribed within our bodies. ”

I don't know where anyone ever got the idea that technology, in and of itself, was a savior. Like all human-created 'progress,' computers are problematic, giving and taking away. ”

The condition of my personal workspace is my own business, as I see it. ”

With all the attention given to the personal computer, it's hard to remember that other companion machine in the room - the printer. ”

There's some intimacy in reading, some thoughtfulness that doesn't exist in machine experiences. ”