Basic would never have surfaced because there was always a language better than Basic for that purpose. That language was Joss, which… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Perl is another example of filling a tiny, short-term need, and then being a real problem in the longer term. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
The flip side of the coin was that even good programmers and language designers tended to do terrible extensions when they were… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Sun Microsystems had the right people to make Java into a first-class language, and I believe it was the Sun marketing people… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
The most disastrous thing that you can ever learn is your first programming language. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
In our society we have hard nerds and soft nerds. The hard nerds are the ones who used to have the slide rules at… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
As far as Apple goes, it was a different company every few years from the time I joined in 1984. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
When I first prepared this particular talk... I realized that my usual approach is usually critical. That is, a lot of the things that… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Quite a few people have to believe something is normal before it becomes normal - a sort of 'voting' situation. But once the threshold… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Every technology really needs to be shipped with a special manual - not how to use it but why, when and for what. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones. Java is the most distressing thing to hit computing… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
It's hard to change information in books, but if we have everything online, then a somewhat untrustworthy group of people controlling the thing -… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
The tree of research must be fed from time to time with the blood of bean-counters, for it is its natural manure. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
I think the trick with knowledge is to “acquire it, and forget all except the perfume” - because it is noisy and sometimes drowns… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
