[edfletcher_t137]

"Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming." - Rob Pike, "Rules of Programming"

The essence of programming is data.

[gingerBill]

Author of the article here:

I quote Rob Pike along with many others in the previous article I wrote (which is linked in the article): "Pragmatism in Programming Proverbs" https://www.gingerbill.org/article/2020/05/31/progamming-pra...

And to be clear, I am making a distinction between the essence of "programming" and the essence of a "program". I agree that with Rob Pike that (and to quote myself) "The purpose of a program is, and ought to be, something that transforms data into other forms of data".

[izuchukwu]

If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the interfaces will be self-evident too.

[082349872349872]

or, from ~15 years earlier, with vocabulary to match: "Show me your flowcharts, and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified; show me your tables and I won’t usually need your flowcharts: they’ll be obvious."

[pjmorris]

aka "Representation is the essence of programming" - Fred Brooks, Mythical Man Month

[artificialLimbs]

Unless your tables and column names are constrained to 8 characters. =/