Torvalds' quote about good programmer

Q: Accidentally I've stumbled upon the following quote by Linus Torvalds: "Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships." I've thought about it for the last few days and I'm still confused (which is probably not a good sign), hence I wanted to discuss the following: What interpretation of this possible/makes sense? What can be applied/learned from it? A: 11   I think this question probably has multiple answers that are equally valid. But it's a good question anyway. I love that quote. It expresses why I don't understand programmers who worry about switching languages. It's rarely the language that matters in a program, it's the data structures and how they relate. –  Ryan Kinal  Aug 31 at 18:18 3   Maybe if you take the time making the data structures "elegant" then the code doesn't have to be convoluted to deal with these data structures? I'm probably too dumb to really know the meaning of Torvalds' quote. :} –  Jason Holland  Aug 31 at 18:33 2   @JasonHolland That's pretty much it. Once you understand the data structures, the code is almost irrelevant. It becomes a matter of memory and/or reference. The complicated and interesting part is conceptually figuring everything out. I often solve problems and design solutions away from the keyboard. –  Ryan Kinal  Aug 31 at 18:59 61   Torvalds is not alone in this, by the way: "Show me your flowchart and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowchart; it'll be obvious." – Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month. "Show me your code and conceal your data structures, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your data structures, and I won't usually need your code; it'll be obvious." and "Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around." – Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and The Bazaar. –  Jörg W Mittag  Sep 1 at 2:10

11   I think this question probably has multiple answers that are equally valid. But it's a good question anyway. I love that quote. It expresses why I don't understand programmers who worry about switching languages. It's rarely the language that matters in a program, it's the data structures and how they relate. –  Ryan Kinal  Aug 31 at 18:18 3   Maybe if you take the time making the data structures "elegant" then the code doesn't have to be convoluted to deal with these data structures? I'm probably too dumb to really know the meaning of Torvalds' quote. :} –  Jason Holland  Aug 31 at 18:33 2   @JasonHolland That's pretty much it. Once you understand the data structures, the code is almost irrelevant. It becomes a matter of memory and/or reference. The complicated and interesting part is conceptually figuring everything out. I often solve problems and design solutions away from the keyboard. –  Ryan Kinal  Aug 31 at 18:59 61   Torvalds is not alone in this, by the way: "Show me your flowchart and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won't usually need your flowchart; it'll be obvious." – Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month. "Show me your code and conceal your data structures, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your data structures, and I won't usually need your code; it'll be obvious." and "Smart data structures and dumb code works a lot better than the other way around." – Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and The Bazaar. –  Jörg W Mittag  Sep 1 at 2:10