The developer is part of the code: There is no objective development. Software is not a tool, but a binary imprint of the programmer’s state of mind, blood pressure, and anger on that particular day.

Chaos is sacred: If an algorithm is too transparent, it is suspicious. True gonzo code is like a jungle: dangerous, dark, and only its creator knows where the traps are.

Testing on the production server: Unit testing is a sport for cowards and bureaucrats. The real gonzo programmer debugs in production, amid the screams of users.

Documentation is fiction: Comments attached to code are not explanations, but internal monologues, political manifestos, or cries for help. Anyone who does not understand the code is not worthy of using it.

The pointer is lord: Use a programming language that does not restrict you! Direct memory management is the guarantee of your freedom. Using safe types is only a shackle. Use memory addresses as if there were no tomorrow. The Memory Leak is your scream that no one hears.

Caffeine-based architecture: Code quality is directly proportional to the amount of stimulants consumed and inversely proportional to the number of hours spent sleeping.

Error message as art: An error message should not help, but shock. The user must feel the contempt of the machine and its creator at every Runtime Error.

Never clean up (Refactor): What you once wrote in a trance is sacred. If you touch it to make it “prettier,” you kill the soul of the software.

The deadline is only a suggestion: The gonzo programmer does not work by the clock, but rides the waves of inspiration and panic. The code is finished when the developer collapses.

Software should be unpredictable: A good gonzo program always contains a little randomness. If the same thing happens every time a button is pressed, it is a boring industrial product, not art.

Responsibility? Excluded: The license agreement should consist of a single clause: “If it starts, that is your problem.” The developer is not God, only a witness to the destruction of the machine.

The exit strategy: When the project collapses, do not explain yourself. Delete the Git history, burn the hard drive, and find a place in Mexico with no mobile signal.