Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age

if you can imagine someone surpassing you, you should do it yourself.

should be “i pensieri stretti & il viso sciolto.” Closed thoughts and an open face. Smile at everyone, and don’t tell

What were we going to do in the next six months? Whatever looked like the biggest win. I don’t know if I ever dared give this answer, but that was the truth. Plans are just another word for ideas on the shelf.

To developers, the most conspicuous difference between web based and desktop software is that a web-based application is not a single piece of code. It will be a collection of programs of different types rather than a single big binary. And so designing web-based software is like designing a city rather than a building: as well as buildings you nee

If you’re in a job that feels safe, you are not going to get rich, because if there is no danger there is almost certainly no leverage.

whole company moving in one direction or another.

Mapmakers deliberately put slight mistakes in their maps so they can tell when someone copies them.

get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things, measurement and leverage. You need to be in a position where your performance can be measured, or there is no way to get paid more by doing more. And you have to have leverage, in the sense that the decisions you make have a big effect.

The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, where you can think anything you want, if you’re willing to risk the consequences.