I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habits.
Interpretation
Great programmers are defined by their strong habits rather than just their skills.
This quote emphasizes that the foundation of exceptional programming is not solely based on innate talent or advanced knowledge, but rather on the discipline of cultivating good habits. Kent Beck suggests that consistent practices and routines enable programmers to achieve greater results than relying on skill alone.
In practice
In a coding bootcamp, to motivate students to develop good coding habits.
Code wants to be simple... I had to give up the idea that I had the perfect vision of the system to which the system had to conform. Instead, I had to accept that I was only the vehicle for the system expressing its own desire for simplicity. My vision could shape initial direction, and my attention to the desires of the code could affect how quickly and how well the system found its desired shape, but the system is riding me much more than I am riding the system.
I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.
If it is wisdom you're after, you're going to spend a lot of time on your ass reading.
Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.
He never fell, never slipped back, never flew.
Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end.
I have all my life long been lying in bed till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.
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