“我当时受雇从事一项工作，我希望能够有始有终地完成。我的门卡仍然能打开苹果（Apple）公司的大门，所以我照旧去公司干活。”

    以上是荣恩•艾维泽讲述的一个异乎寻常故事的开头。故事发生在1993年至1994年间，讲述的是艾维泽在苹果开发图形计算器的经历。这款软件相当有趣。当时史蒂夫•乔布斯尚未重返苹果，公司还处于困难时期。

    艾维泽的回忆最初的发表时间是在2004年，但它本周在社交新闻推荐服务Reddit上重获新生。人们在这个网站上转发，饶有兴味地从中挖掘生动的引语以及程序员智慧的结晶。以下其中的亮点：

    • “因为经理不在，不用开会，所以我们的效率非常高。”

    • “他们哄堂大笑，直到意识到我是认真的。然后他们对我说：‘以后不要再讲这个故事了。’”

    • “虽然是陈词滥调，但在我们这个行业，第一个90%总是很容易达到，第二个90%开始摧残你的意志，最后要经历那专注细节的90%，才能打造出一款优秀的产品。”

    • “编程的秘诀不在于你有多聪明，虽然聪明也起作用。也不在于工作有多勤奋或是经验多么丰富，虽然这些因素也起作用。编程的秘诀在于找到聪明的队友。”

    • “我们希望在Windows 98里嵌入这个软件的Windows版本，不过很悲剧，微软（Microsoft）的安全防护工作非常严密。”

    我不打算剧透，提前告诉你苹果和艾维泽故事的大结局。如果你还没有看过艾维泽的讲述，或是最近没有看过，请点击此处阅读。

    译者：项航

    "I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up."

    So begins the bizarre story Ron Avitzur tells about how he managed to create a lovely piece of software called Graphing Calculator in the Apple (AAPL) of 1993-1994 -- the dark ages before Steve Jobs' return.

    His account was originally published in 2004, but it is enjoying a second life this week on Reddit, where it has been re-posted and pored over for juicy quotes and little bits of programmer wisdom. Among them:

    • "Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive."

    • "They laughed, until they realized I was serious. Then they told me, 'Don't repeat this story.'"

    • "It is a cliche in our business that the first 90 percent of the work is easy, the second 90 percent wears you down, and the last 90 percent -- the attention to detail -- makes a good product."

    • "The secret to programming is not intelligence, though of course that helps. It is not hard work or experience, though they help, too. The secret to programming is having smart friends."

    • "We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security."

    We won't spoil the ending by telling you what Apple did with Avitzur's program. If you haven't read his version -- or haven't read it lately -- you can get it here.