Hippocrates, one of the founding fathers of modern medicine, realized that those who trained to become physicians were not only able to use their skills for good and for progress, but also might be inclined to misuse all they had learned. To protect against such abuses, new grads back in the 4th century B.C. were made to swear they would only use medicine in the best interests of their patients by taking the eponymously named "Hippocratic Oath."

I think that it's about time we had a similar oath for all those who enter into the venerable profession of software engineering. As generations of future geeks walk down to collect their degrees wearing ill-fitting rented robes before proud parents and nervous colleagues, they should clutch a copy of Design Patterns in one hand, raise the other, and chant: Before all gathered here, I FinnBarMcFooBar swear and promise: