optimism

What a programmer is full of after fixing the last bug and

just before actually discovering the *next* last bug. Fred

Brooks's book "The Mythical Man-Month" contains the

following paragraph that describes this extremely well.

All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery

especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and

fairy god-mothers. Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations

drive away all but those who habitually focus on the end goal.

Perhaps it is merely that computers are young, programmers are

younger, and the young are always optimists. But however the

selection process works, the result is indisputable: "This

time it will surely run," or "I just found the last bug.".

See also Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.

[Jargon File]