Aim for programs and arguments that can be reasoned about formally, not merely tested empirically.

Let your work be guided by standards of excellence rather than by the desire for approval.

Challenge accepted practices when they are unsound, even if doing so is unpopular.

Communicate with exactness and economy; every unnecessary word or line is a potential source of confusion.

Favor simple, elegant solutions over complicated ones, even when complexity is socially rewarded.

Avoid anthropomorphizing computers or treating programming as magic; it is a human activity governed by logic.