Everything that I've learned about computers at MIT I have boiled down into three principles: Unix: You think it won't work, but if you find the right wizard, they can make it work. Macintosh: You think it will work, but… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
Progress in computer science is made with the distribution of revolutionary software systems and the publication of revolutionary books. We don't need a fancy information system to alert us to these grand events; they will hit us in the face. Another good excuse for ignoring the literature is that, since everyone has strong beliefs about fundamentals but can't support those… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share
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 of Common… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
Even within traditional universities there has always been debate about whether it wouldn't be better to focus on only one course at a time. — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
The book the Ziff folks sent me as an example of their art was 'Late Night VRML 2.0 with Java,' 700 pages + CD-ROM,… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
Start by putting yourself in your users' shoes. Why are they coming to your site? If you look at most Web sites, you'd presume… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
Remember that in 1993 a company with a bad Web site needed an engineer. Today, a company with a bad Web site needs a psychiatrist. — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
We're not a vocational school. If someone wants to get a high-paying job, I would hope that there are easier ways to do it… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
“Programmers are isolated. They sit in their cubicle; they don't think about the larger picture. To my mind, a programmer is not an engineer, because an engineer is somebody who starts with a social problem that an organization or a society has and says, "OK, here's this problem that we have- how can we solve it?" The engineer comes up… — Philip Greenspun Copy Share
Pilots enjoy the fun and challenge of handling the fancy machine. — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
“Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.” — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
I don't myself believe in astrology. However, I think that's because I'm a Libra and Libras are always skeptical. — Philip Greenspun Copy Share Image
