Careful as they may be, developers of Eiffel libraries will always run into cases in which, after releasing a library class, they suddenly experience what in French is called esprit de l'escalier or wit of the staircase: a great thought which unfortunately is an afterthought, like a clever reply that would have stunned all the other dinner guests - if only you had thought of it before walking down the stairs after the party is over.
Interpretation
It's common to have brilliant ideas after the moment has passed, often reflecting on what could have been said or done.
This quote highlights the phenomenon of 'esprit de l'escalier', which refers to the clever thoughts or responses that come to mind only after a situation has ended. It's a reminder that in life, particularly in creative and intellectual fields like software development, the ideal solutions or witty retorts often occur too late, prompting reflection on how we can better prepare for future interactions or challenges.
In practice
During a team meeting, you might bring up this quote to emphasize the importance of capturing ideas in the moment.
Writing a class without its contract would be similar to producing an engineering component (electrical circuit, VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) chip, bridge, engine...) without a spec. No professional engineer would even consider the idea.
Perfect reusable components are not obtained at the first shot.
There are only two things wrong with C++: The initial concept and the implementation.
Incorrect documentation is often worse than no documentation.
You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time.
The recollected go forth to lives of renunciation. They take no pleasure in a fixed abode. Like wild swans abandoning a pool, they leave one resting place after another.
Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.
It does not require many words to speak the truth.
When it comes to the mental world, when we design things like health care and retirement and stock markets, we somehow forget the idea that we are limited. I think that if we understood our cognitive limitations in the same way that we understand our physical limitations … we could design a better world.
Problems are challenges to creative minds. Without problems, there would be little reason to think at all.
Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.
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