How to be a (good) programmer

How to be a Programmer by Robert L. Read is a really good read.

My most favorite:

"Life is too short to write crap nobody will read; if you write crap, nobody will read it. [...] If someone absolutely insists that you write truly useless documentation, say 'yes' and quietly begin looking for a better job."

This is what I say to people writing comments like:
/** this method returns monster's health */
float getMonsterHealth();

"You should go home if you are thinking suicidal thoughts."

This is what I used to say to myself when working on 'chick chick BOOM'. :-)

"Estimation takes practice. It also takes labor. It takes so much labor it may be a good idea to estimate the time it will take to make the estimate, especially if you are asked to estimate something big."

"Difficult people do change and improve. I've seen it with my own eyes, but it is very rare."

This is what I definitely can confirm.

"You may even be a difficult person yourself."

o_O