Nick Johnstone’s “Programmer’s Oath” is billed as “An oath for programmers, comparable to the Hippocratic Oath.” Naturally, it’s on Github and you can create a pull request if you think that Johnstone got something wrong.
As a programmer, I swear to fulfill these tenets:
I will only undertake honest and moral work. I will stand firm against any requirement that exploits or harms people.
I will respect the learnings of those programmers who came before me, and share my learnings with those to come.
I will remember that programming is art as well as science, and that warmth, empathy and understanding may outweigh a clever algorithm or technical argument.
I will not be ashamed to say “I don’t know”, and I will ask for help when I am stuck.
I will respect the privacy of my users, for their information is not disclosed to me that the world may know.
I will tread most carefully in matters of life or death. I will be humble and recognize that I will make mistakes.
I will remember that I do not write code for computers, but for people.
I will consider the possible consequences of my code and actions. I will respect the difficulties of both social and technical problems.
I will be diligent and take pride in my work.
I will recognize that I can and will be wrong, sometimes. I will keep an open mind, and listen to others carefully and with respect.
Programmer’s Oath [Nick Johnstone/Github]
(via 4 Short Links)