Thursday, November 21, 2024 Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Linus Torvalds


Computer programmer, best known as the creator of the Linux kernel.
Linus Torvalds
I'm always right. This time I'm just even more right than usual.
Torvalds quotes
I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First Linux, now git.
Torvalds
If you need more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix your program.




Torvalds Linus quotes
I have an ego the size of a small planet.
Torvalds Linus
Sometimes "pi = 3.14" is (a) infinitely faster than the "correct" answer and (b) the difference between the "correct" and the "wrong" answer is meaningless. And this is why I get upset when somebody dismisses performance issues based on "correctness". The thing is, some specious value of "correctness" is often irrelevant because it doesn't matter. While performance almost always matters. And I absolutely detest the fact that people so often dismiss performance concerns so readily.
Linus Torvalds quotes
Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100 mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.
Linus Torvalds
We're not masturbating around with some research project. We never were. Even when Linux was young, the whole and only point was to make a *usable* system. It's why it's not some crazy drug-induced microkernel or other random crazy thing.
Torvalds Linus quotes
And what's the Internet without the rick-roll?
Torvalds
It was such a relief to program in user mode for a change. Not having to care about the small stuff is wonderful.
Torvalds Linus
Now, most of you are probably going to be totally bored out of your minds on Christmas day, and here's the perfect distraction. Test 2.6.15-rc7. All the stores will be closed, and there's really nothing better to do in between meals.
Linus Torvalds
OK, I admit it. I was just a front-man for the real fathers of Linux, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.




Linus Torvalds quotes
You see. I don't think any new thoughts. I think thoughts that other people have thought, and I rearrange them. But Sara, she thinks thoughts that never were before.
Linus Torvalds
Dijkstra probably hates me.
Torvalds quotes
The main reason there are no raw devices [in Linux] is that I personally think that raw devices are a stupid idea.
Torvalds Linus
I chose 1000 originally partly as a way to make sure that people that assumed HZ was 100 would get a swift kick in the pants.
Torvalds Linus quotes
Your code is shit... your argument is shit.
Linus Torvalds
To kind of explain what Linux is, you have to explain what an operating system is. And the thing about an operating system is that you're never ever supposed to see it. Because nobody really uses an operating system; people use programs on their computer. And the only mission in life of an operating system is to help those programs run. So an operating system never does anything on its own; it's only waiting for the programs to ask for certain resources, or ask for a certain file on the disk, or ask to connect to the outside world. And then the operating system steps in and tries to make it easy for people to write programs.
Linus Torvalds quotes
I wish everybody was as nice as I am.
Linus Torvalds
I like offending people, because I think people who get offended should be offended.
Torvalds Linus
Every time I see some piece of medical research saying that caffeine is good for you, I high-five myself. Because I'm going to live forever.


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