I vaguely remember a great quote from a master programmer who said that computer program where meant to be read by humans, not computers. Was it Knuth? Does anyone know this quote?

I have that quote on my homenode. It’s from the preface to the first edition of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson, Sussman and Sussman. The exact phrasing is

Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.

With regard to the topic of this thread, that book is highly recommended – and it’s available online freely, in full.

Makeshifts last the longest.