Bjarne Stroustrup

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• Within C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out.
  • . A later clarification adds, "And no, that smaller and cleaner language is not Java or C#."

• Proof by analogy is fraud.

• Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost.

• A program that has not been tested does not work.

• "How to test?" is a question that cannot be answered in general. "When to test?" however, does have a general answer: as early and as often as possible.

• An organisation that treats its programmers as morons will soon have programmers that are willing and able to act like morons only.

• Anybody who comes to you and says he has a perfect language is either naive or a salesman.
  • in C++ 0x - An Overview at University of Waterloo Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/media/C++0x%20-%20An%20Overview.html

• There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses.

• I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone.
  • On his homepage, Bjarne Stroustrup states that he did say the above sentence, but also adds "I very much doubt that the sentiment is original."

• People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we don't.

• C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do it blows your whole leg off.

• If you think it's simple, then you have misunderstood the problem.

• "There are more useful systems developed in languages deemed awful than in languages praised for being beautiful--many more".

• C++ is my favorite garbage collected language because it generates so little garbage

• "Legacy code" often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling.

• "The first law of computer science: Every problem is solved by yet another indirection."
  • footnote in AT&T Bell Labs paper titled

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• [Corporate programming] is often done to the point where the individual is completely submerged in corporate "culture" with no outlet for unique talents and skills. Corporate practices can be directly hostile to individuals with exceptional skills and initiative in technical matters. I consider such management of technical people cruel and wasteful.

• The connection between the language in which we think/program and the problems and solutions we can imagine is very close. For this reason restricting language features with the intent of eliminating programmer errors is at best dangerous.

• If it doesn't compile on my computer - it doesn't exist.
  • A comment made by Dr. Stroustrup in his C++0x class at Texas A&M University on April 14, 2009