The Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming

The Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming

1. Understand and accept that you will make mistakes.
2. You are not your code.
3. No matter how much “karate” you know, someone else will always know more.
4. Don’t re-write code without consultation.
5. Treat people who know less than you with respect, deference, and patience.
6. The only constant in the world is change.
7. The only true authority stems from knowledge, not position.
8. Fight for what you believe, but gracefully accept defeat.
9. Don’t be the “coder int he corner”.
10. Critique code instead of people – be kind to the coder, not the code.

From The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald M. Weinberg

An egoist programmer is like an atomic bomb. He can free the monsters and lead the entire project to failure.

Who is Dennis Nedry?

Dennis Nedry was a computer programmer at Jurassic Park and a minor antagonist. Due to his financial problems and low salary, he accepted a bribe from Biosyn to smuggle dinosaur embryos off the island. His last name is an anagram of nerdy.