Computer language Quotes · Page 2

A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

— Alan Perlis

When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem.

— R. Buckminster Fuller

Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris.

— Larry Wall

Computer Science is the only discipline in which we view adding a new wing to a building as being maintenance.

— Jim Horning

Human languages tend to be much more ambiguous than computer languages because humans are much smarter about interpreting the context.

— Larry Wall

Code should run as fast as necessary, but no faster; something important is always traded away to increase speed.

— Richard E. Pattis

Computer language design is just like a stroll in the park. Jurassic Park, that is.

— Larry Wall

It's OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn't need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.

— Steve McConnell

Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against…

— David Gelernter

The best programmers are not marginally better than merely good ones. They are an order-of-magnitude better, measured by whatever standard: conceptual creativity,…

— Randall E. Stross

Quite frankly, even if the choice of C were to do *nothing* but keep the C++ programmers out, that in itself would…

— Linus Torvalds

Whereas smaller computer languages have features designed into them, C++ is unusual in having a whole swathe of functionality discovered, like a…

— Verity Stob

Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming: any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc informally-specified bug-ridden slow implementation of half…

— Philip Greenspun

Computer science is to biology what calculus is to physics. It's the natural mathematical technique that best maps the character of the…

— Harold Morowitz

The sole justification of teaching, of the school itself, is that the student comes out of it able to do something he…

— Jacques Barzun

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as…

— Brian Kernighan

It's [programming] the only job I can think of where I get to be both an engineer and an artist. There's an…

— Andy Hertzfeld

When building a complex system, having crackerjack programmers (who can make any design work, even a bad one) can be a liability.…

— Richard E. Pattis

Although our grammar schools are teaching a whole generation computer language to adjust to the technological needs of a Stage II [post…

— Warren Farrell

The discipline of programming is most like sorcery. Both use precise language to instruct inanimate objects to do our bidding. Small mistakes…

— Richard E. Pattis

I can only think that the book is read because it deals with the difficulties of schooling, which do not change. Please…

— Jacques Barzun

Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against…

— David Gelernter

The only way for errors to occur in a program is by being put there by the author. No other mechanisms are…

— Hayley Mills

When the words are fuzzy, the programmers reflexively retreat to the most precise method of articulation available: source code. Although there is…

— Amari Cooper

If you cannot grok the overall structure of a program while taking a shower, you are not ready to code it.

— Richard E. Pattis

Computer languages of the future will be more concerned with goals and less with procedures specified by the programmer.

— Marvin Minsky

If you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it?

— Brian Kernighan

One can think effectively only when one is willing to endure suspense and to undergo the trouble of searching.

— John Dewey

When debugging, novices insert corrective code; experts remove defective code.

— Richard E. Pattis

FORTRAN was the language of choice for the same reason that three-legged races are popular.

— Ken Thompson

That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally…

— George Boole

In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important as remembering.

— William James

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.

— Robert Coveyou

The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject, one teaches a student how to learn…

— Jacques Barzun

I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my…

— Maurice Wilkes

When teaching a rapidly changing technology, perspective is more important than content.

— Richard E. Pattis

More than the act of testing, the act of designing tests is one of the best bug preventers known.

— Boris Beizer

The proof of a high education is the ability to speak about complex matters as simply as possible.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.

— Anonymous

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

— John W. Gardner