John Carmack Quotes

“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 to hurt anyone? Now that's the idealistic vision of the world.”

“The cost of adding a feature isn't just the time it takes to code it. The cost also includes the addition of an obstacle to future expansion. Sure, any given feature list can be implemented, given enough coding time. But in addition to coming out late, you will usually wind up with a codebase that is so fragile that new ideas that should be dead-simple wind up taking longer and longer to work into the tangled existing web.”

“Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.”

“Programming is not a science. Programming is a craft.”

“Low-level programming is good for the programmer's soul.”

“The speed of light sucks. It's way too slow for real-time applications.”

“I have fond memories of the development work that I did on these systems and I believe that these games are still fun to play, so I am happy to release the source code to the community.”

“The situation is that in the modern world, the amount of information that any individual has to absorb in order to be effective at their job is getting larger and larger, and the rate at which new information is generated is accelerating.”

“I'd rather have a search engine or a compiler on a deserted island than a game.”

“The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.”

“I recognize that I possess a very special intellect, but at the same time, I recognize that I'm probably not one of the giant intellectual minds of history.”

“It's nice to have a game that sells a million copies.”

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

“VR is going to be important. It's going to be a big deal. But it's not going to be everything, everywhere, for everyone.”

“The latency requirements for VR are really strict. If you're off by even 20 milliseconds, people will start to feel sick.”

“I do think that a significant portion of the population of developed countries, and eventually all countries, will have AR experiences every day, almost all day.”

“I am a big believer in the value of traveling while you're young. The experiences you have in other countries can inspire greatness.”

“The scientific method is the most reliable way we have for understanding the world around us. But it requires intellectual honesty.”

“Sometimes, the elegant implementation is just a function. Not a method. Not a class. Not a framework. Just a function.”

“At its best, entertainment is going to be a subjective thing that can't be measured objectively. But at its worst, it's going to be the kind of thing where you can take a Clancy book and tear out the pages, and then the next 10 people read a beautiful book.”