Rasmus Lerdorf Quotes

Powerful Rasmus Lerdorf for Daily Growth

About Rasmus Lerdorf

Rasmus Lerdorf, a Canadian software engineer and internet entrepreneur, was born on October 8, 1968, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although raised in Montreal, Quebec, by his Danish father and German mother, Lerdorf's journey into the world of technology began as a means to track visits to his personal website, where he posted images of hit songs from his popular band, Mistral. In 1994, while working as a staff biochemist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Lerdorf developed Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts in Perl and extended them to create the PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), an open-source scripting language that is now one of the most widely-used web development tools. This revolutionary work laid the foundation for dynamic web content and paved the way for modern web development. In 1995, Lerdorf co-founded the web consulting firm The Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Software Partner Program, where he worked on projects with companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Apple Computer. Following DEC's acquisition by Compaq in 2000, Lerdorf focused on his own ventures, co-founding Yahoo! Canada and the software company, Kaltix, which was later acquired by Google in 2006. Today, Rasmus Lerdorf continues to make significant contributions to the tech community as a visiting professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, where he inspires future generations of innovators and leaders. His groundbreaking work with PHP remains a cornerstone in web development history, solidifying his place among the great pioneers of the digital age.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The best thing about a baby is about every three hours it's a brand new day."

This quote highlights the freshness and renewal that each day brings, especially when seen through the eyes of a newborn baby. Every three hours for a baby represents a significant milestone as it signifies a new feeding, rest, or playtime, symbolizing a brand-new beginning. Rasmus Lerdorf emphasizes the optimistic and hopeful nature inherent in each day, reminding us to embrace the fresh starts life offers us at every turn.


"Don't worry about bugs in the code. If they aren't there now, they will be."

Rasmus Lerdorf's quote emphasizes the inevitability of encountering coding errors or "bugs" in software development. Despite our best efforts to ensure that our code is error-free at the time of writing, it's important to recognize that bugs can, and often will, appear as a project evolves. This highlights the need for ongoing testing, maintenance, and vigilance when working with software systems. The quote serves as a reminder that software development is an iterative process and that resilience and adaptability are essential qualities in any developer's toolkit.


"The Internet is like a big box of Lego blocks—only instead of building spacecraft and houses, we build databases and web sites."

This quote by Rasmus Lerdorf analogizes the nature of the internet to a set of LEGO blocks. Just as LEGO blocks can be assembled into diverse structures such as spaceships, houses, or castles, the internet allows individuals and organizations to construct a vast array of digital entities. In this case, these digital creations are not physical structures but rather databases and websites - fundamental components of our modern, interconnected world. Essentially, Lerdorf is suggesting that the internet provides us with the tools and building blocks necessary for creating an endless variety of digital solutions, services, and platforms.


"It always seems impossible until it's done." (often misattributed to Nelson Mandela)

This quote by Rasmus Lerdorf emphasizes that tasks which initially appear overwhelming or unachievable can be completed if one persists. It encourages individuals to have faith in their abilities, take the first step towards a daunting goal, and believe that eventually, they will succeed, even when faced with obstacles or uncertainty. This mindset is powerful as it fosters resilience, determination, and the drive necessary to accomplish great feats.


"When you're writing code, especially for the web, you're writing for people who are going to do really stupid things with it."

This quote highlights a crucial aspect of software development, particularly in web applications, where the end-users might not always use the software in the intended manner or may make mistakes when interacting with it. By acknowledging this reality, developers can build more robust, flexible, and user-friendly systems that are less prone to errors and better equipped to handle unexpected inputs or usage scenarios. This mindset fosters the creation of reliable solutions for a diverse range of users, making digital tools more accessible and enjoyable.


If you want to build an open source project, you can't let your ego stand in the way. You can't rewrite everybody's patches, you can't second-guess everybody, and you have to give people equal control.

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Want, Give, Everybody, Patches

I'm OK with procedural code, and the web is a top-down type of problem. It makes sense to me that you have HTML, you spit out a bunch of HTML, then you call a function to do something and then call another function.

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Another, Code, Makes, HTML

I've never used Sybase in my life. How would I make an intelligent decision about this versus that with a Sybase extension?

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Decision, My Life, Extension, Versus

The file is a gzipped tar file. Your browser is playing tricks with you and trying to be smart.

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Trying, File, Browser, Tar

This is your silly web browser doing that. The file is correctly named.

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Doing, Correctly, Named, Browser

When the world becomes standard, I will start caring about standards.

- Rasmus Lerdorf

Caring, World, Standard, Standards

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