[dar512]

There are other aphorisms about the need for setting a goal, but none that say it quite as well.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are both great books and full of useful tidbits like this. I find that most programmers have read them - they seem to strike some chord.

Larry Wall (the author of the computer language Perl) in an interview once quoted Humpty Dumpty from Through the Looking Glass - `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.' It was both humerous and a wonderful use of the quote to describe a part of the Perl language. However, the text of the interview indicated that the interviewer didn't get it.

I wrote Larry to ask about the interview and actually got a reply. He also is a big fan of the books. He told me that it is no accident that his son is named Charles.