The Three Virtues of a Great Programmer

Let me throw in a key skill for (Great) Programmers - the ability to approach a problem in a logical, step-by-step process. This facilitates design and makes debugging possible. Experience colours the debugging process by broadening the range of "how the #!&!%! did that happen" that merit consideration. It's easier when you have seen the problem previously.

And such programmers work within themselves to keep things as simple as possible. As Kernighan said: "Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?"

Because we don't have enough posts like this one.