I think I can do this, but ...

I came across the following sentence in one of Paul Graham's essays:

I think I can do this, but I have to figure out what I'm trying to do before I can figure out whether or not it's possible.

This might not make strict logical sense but it nicely sums up one of the problems facing software developers.

Update on Mon 2006-04-03 by Tristram Brelstaff

This is a modern variant of:

How can I know what I think till I see what I say?

E.M.Forster, Aspects of the Novel, 1927.

The Effects of Firefox and Open Office on Microsoft

Yesterday I came across the following:

I think a lot of people misinterpret the importance of Firefox.  Firefox is not important because it may replace or substantially reduce the Internet Explorer monopoly.  Firefox is important because it forces Microsoft to innovate.  The Internet Explorer team has been reformed and work is starting on the first serious upgrade to the product for years. This is a good thing for everbody, whether you like Microsoft or not.

Simon Johnson (http://www.ckwop.me.uk/)

This reminded me of something I read about the importance of OpenOffice to Sun: they are using it to compete with the vastly profitable Microsoft Office so that Microsoft will be less able to subsidise their loss-making server software which is displacing Sun from their specialist market.  I think it was in an essay by Joel Spolsky or Paul Graham that I read this .

The Best Software Writing selected and introduced by Joel Spolsky

A collection of articles on software development culled from various sources on the web.  Very similar in scope to 'Joel on Software' but here Joel only writes the introductions, so it tends to be a bit more fragmented.  However, it is still good fun to read.

Joel on Software by Joel Spolsky

A collection of essays on software development written by one of the leading gurus in the field. The majority of the essays deal with the practice of programming and managing developers, especially within a small software company. They are interesting, pragmatic, relevant, authoritative and funny.

A couple of quotables:

... the history of the evolution of C++ can be described as a history of trying to plug the leaks in the string abstraction.

The idea of advertising is to lie without getting caught. Most companies when they run an advertising campaign, simply take the most unfortunate truth about their company, turn it upside down ("lie"), and drill that lie home.

All of the essays have previously been published on the author's web-site but the book also includes some new introductions and, besides, a book is much more convenient for reading in the bath, or on the train.

A Quotation on Object Identity and Time

... Not only was it difficult for him to comprehend that the generic symbol dog embraces so many unlike individuals of diverse size and form; it bothered him that the dog at three fourteen (seen from the side) should have the same name as the dog at three fifteen (seen from the front). ...

From Funes el memorioso by Jorge Luis Borges.