“The smaller part of the job of programming is writing a program so that the computer can read it; the larger part is writing it so that other humans can read it.” (P.733)
"Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute."
From the preface to the first edition of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson & Sussman (which predated Code Complete by a decade).
It's a maxim I live by although my employers always seem to insist on the computers executing part for some reason.
The computer executing part is the one that's both necessary and sufficient. The human reading part is neither. It's nice, important, and long-term indispensable - exactly the kind of thing economic pressures fight against.
