Who said "data structure(s) is half the code"? [closed]

Question

I read the quote "data structure(s) is half the code" a long time ago, but couldn't recall where I read it or to whom it is attributed to. I appreciate any help. Thanks.

-- jqr

Answer 1

There seems to be quite a handful of people who have asserted the high importance of data structures. Of course, one of the principles of the object oriented paradigm can be seen as "data is king" and to insulate that data so that only "priviledged" code has access to it, for many reasons.

As far as quotes go, you have Linus Torvald's comment:

I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code or his data structures more important. Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

--- Linus Torvalds, https://lwn.net/Articles/193245/

Another, perhaps more famous one (which, if I recall correctly, I read for the first time many, many moons ago when reading Niklaus Wirth's "Algorithms and Data Structures"):

Show me your flowcharts and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowcharts; they'll be obvious.

--- Fred Brooks.

Answer 2

Well, Theng, Jones, and Thimbleby wrote:

If a programmer designs a program, only half the job is done if they have only designed the data structures.

Note the extra word "only".