Dave-Platt%LADC@HI-MULTICS.arpa (Dave Platt) (05/16/86)
I believe your "It has also been said..." can be attributed to Donald Knuth; if I remember correctly, his original wording was "Plan on throwing one away, because you will anyhow."
dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady) (05/27/86)
In article <911@brl-smoke.ARPA> Dave-Platt%LADC@HI-MULTICS.arpa (Dave Platt) writes: >I believe your "It has also been said..." can be attributed to Donald >Knuth; if I remember correctly, his original wording was "Plan on >throwing one away, because you will anyhow." Nope, it was Fred Brooks in _The Mythical Man-Month_. Let's keep our Ancient Masters straight. -- D Gary Grady Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC 27706 (919) 684-3695 USENET: {seismo,decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary
jdb@mordor.ARPA (John Bruner) (05/27/86)
"The management question, therefore, is not *whether* to build a pilot system and throw it away. You *will* do that. The only question is whether to plan in advance to build a throwaway, or to promise to deliver the throwaway to customers. Seen this way, the answer is much clearer. Delivering that throwaway to customers buys time, but it does so only at the cost of agony for the user, distraction for the builders while they do the redesign, and a bad reputation for the product that the best redesign will find hard to live down. "Hence *plan to throw one away; you will, anyhow.*" [emphasis in the original] Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. *The Mythical Man-Month* Addison-Wesley, 1975 ISBN 0-201-00650-2 -- John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) MILNET: jdb@mordor [jdb@s1-c.ARPA] (415) 422-0758 UUCP: ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!jdb ...!seismo!mordor!jdb
emjej@uokvax.UUCP (05/28/86)
/* Written 9:40 pm May 15, 1986 by Dave-Platt%LADC@HI-MULTICS.arpa in net.lang.c */ I believe your "It has also been said..." can be attributed to Donald Knuth; if I remember correctly, his original wording was "Plan on throwing one away, because you will anyhow." /* End of text from net.lang.c */ Doubtless a flood of corrections will appear, but...it was Fred Brooks, in *The Mythical Man-Month*. "Plan on throwing one away, because you will anyhow. The only question is whether you will deliver the throwaway to your customers." is as near as I can reproduce it from memory. James Jones
mash@mips.UUCP (06/02/86)
In article <3000079@uokvax.UUCP> emjej@uokvax.UUCP writes: > >/* Written 9:40 pm May 15, 1986 by Dave-Platt%LADC@HI-MULTICS.arpa in net.lang.c */ >I believe your "It has also been said..." can be attributed to Donald >Knuth; if I remember correctly, his original wording was "Plan on >throwing one away, because you will anyhow." >/* End of text from net.lang.c */ > >Doubtless a flood of corrections will appear, but...it was Fred Brooks, in >*The Mythical Man-Month*. "Plan on throwing one away, because you will >anyhow. The only question is whether you will deliver the throwaway to >your customers." is as near as I can reproduce it from memory. 1) The most famous reference is, of course, Fred Brooks. 2) However, I'd swear that Knuth, Volume 1, 1st Edition included an anecdote that one of the best projects he'd been involved with was so because all of the cards and listings accidentally got burned in the middle of the project. My Volume 1, 1st Edition disappeared long ago; all have is Volume 1, Edition 2, and I've not been able to find this story. a) Can anybody who has Edition 1 find this? b) If not, does anybody have a definitive answer for where this story comes from [like: in article such-and-such, author X attributes this story to Knuth.] -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: <generic disclaimer, I speak for me only, etc> UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!mash, DDD: 408-720-1700, x253 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086