I bought a new programming book today called "Refactoring". It's something of an Extreme Programming bible. For those not up on the jargon, refactoring is when you take a program that works, and turn it into a program that works, but which is more readable, and more maintainable. The refactoring book is full of easily-summarized formulae, such as "Replace Parameter with Method (292)", "Extract Class (149)", "Collapse Hierarchy (344)" or "Inline Class (154)".

The problem with being a geek, is that you think the world can work like code. Where are the refactorings for "Replace Wasted Years With Hindsight (539)", "Atone For Mistakes (132)", or "Eliminate Bad Decision (94)"?