optimism
optimism n. What a programmer is full of after fixing the
last bug and before discovering the *next* last bug. Fred
Brooks's book "The Mythical Man-Month" (See "Brooks's
Law") contains the following paragraph that describes this
extremely well:
All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery
especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy
godmothers. Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations drive
away all but those who habitually focus on the end goal. Perhaps
it is merely that computers are young, programmers are younger,
and the young are always optimists. But however the selection
process works, the result is indisputable: "This time it will
surely run," or "I just found the last bug.".
See also {Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology}.
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