---
title: "1 Understand Write Quotes By Alan Perlis"
description: "1 Understand Write quotes by Alan Perlis. Plus more from Alan Perlis and more Understand Write sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/alan-perlis-11812_learning_once-you-understand-how-to-write-a-progr_1905484.png"
---

> [Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/once-you-understand-how-to-write-a-program-get-someone-else-to-write/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/alan-perlis-11812_learning_once-you-understand-how-to-write-a-progr_1905484.png)

## More by Alan Perlis

> [You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/you-can-measure-a-programmer-s-perspective-by-noting-his-attitude-on/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/in-english-every-word-can-be-verbed-would-that-it-were-so-in-our/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/lisp-programmers-know-the-value-of-everything-and-the-cost-of-nothing/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/i-think-that-it-s-extraordinarily-important-that-we-in-computer/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/simplicity-does-not-precede-complexity-but-follows-it/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [Optimization hinders evolution. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/optimization-hinders-evolution-everything-should-be-built-top-down/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [The computing field is always in need of new cliches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/the-computing-field-is-always-in-need-of-new-cliches/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/fools-ignore-complexity-pragmatists-suffer-it-some-can-avoid-it/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/a-programming-language-is-low-level-when-its-programs-require/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/syntactic-sugar-causes-cancer-of-the-semicolon/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/when-a-professor-insists-computer-science-is-x-but-not-y-have/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/a-year-spent-in-artificial-intelligence-is-enough-to-make-one-believe/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/in-software-systems-it-is-often-the-early-bird-that-makes-the-worm/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/in-man-machine-symbiosis-it-is-man-who-must-adjust-the-machines-can-t/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

> [Every program has two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/every-program-has-two-purposes-the-one-for-which-it-was-written-and/)

[Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/)

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