All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery especially
attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy godmothers. 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."
-- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"