Thayne Forbes

Forbes Laws

I have, of late, been quoted frequently of a couple of axioms that I invented. In order to get full credit for them, and in order to edify you, I have collected most of them here.

1. No amount of Documentation can substitute for a quick peek at the source code.

2. The User is always lying.

3. Never trust an error message. If your computer knew what the problem really was, it would fix it.

4. The importance of any memo is inversely proportional to the number of people addressed.

5. On the UseNet, nothing is so benign that it cannot be flamed.

6. Sleep is optional.

7. Corporate email systems are a distributed intelligence test. Not everyone passes.

8. Any Perl program longer than 100 lines is evidence that the programmer does not understand the problem.

• Forbes Motto #1: "It's Unix. how hard can it be?"

• Forbes Motto #2: "It's Unix. What could possibly go wrong?"

• Forbes Motto #3: "If it were easy, anyone could do it!"

If you would like to get some idea of how the Scots are about their Tartans, take a look at this Press Release