are programmers "failures"?

[Eddie W. Shore]

(03-23-2019 01:10 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  I am reading a book about programming concepts of the IBM 1620 computer, written in 1962. The following two quotes are from this book:

"There is one quality that is common to all programmers: an astonishing ability to absorb repeated failure. This is because the 'first-time correct' program is extremely rare, and the word 'first' can be changed to 'second,' 'third,' and 'fourth' with the statement still true."

"The student is to be constantly reminded of two 'theorems' associated with computer programming which, unfortunately, have more truth than humor: Theorem 1 - Every program has at least one error. Theorem 2 - Every program can be shortened."

This was undoubtedly true in 1962; I can vouch for that! With all of the modern programming languages available today, is it still true in 2019?

At first you don't succeed, try and try and try and try again.