John D. Carmack

1970– · American computer programmer and video game developer (born 1970)

Topics: learning, software engineering, programming, debugging

• The Xbox 360 is the first console that I've ever worked with that actually has development tools that are better for games than what we've had on PC.

  — John D. Carmack

• A large fraction of the flaws in software development are due to programmers not fully understanding all the possible states their code may execute in.

  — John D. Carmack

• Because of the nature of Moore's law, anything that an extremely clever graphics programmer can do at one point can be replicated by a merely competent programmer some number of years later.

  — John D. Carmack

• The speed of light sucks.

  — John D. Carmack

• Everything is an interpolation problem if you have enough data

  — John D. Carmack

• It is hard for less experienced developers to appreciate how rarely architecting for future requirements / applications turns out net-positive.

  — John D. Carmack

• These are things I find enchanting and miraculous. I don’t have to be at the Grand Canyon to appreciate the way the world works, I can see that in reflections of light in my bathroom.

  — John D. Carmack

• When he was young, John Romero made a game for every letter of the alphabet. That was wise.

  — John D. Carmack

• The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying.

  — John D. Carmack

• The situation is so much better for programmers today - a cheap used PC, a linux CD, and an internet account, and you have all the tools necessary to work your way to any level of programming skill you want to shoot for.

  — John D. Carmack