Alan Perlis Quotes
50 quotes
in 531 categories
-
When someone says, "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done," give him a lollipop.
-
The computing field is always in need of new cliches.
-
It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.
-
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
-
FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
-
Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
-
In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word "frustration".
-
If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
-
I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.
-
Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see…
-
A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
-
A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
-
Any noun can be verbed.
-
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 of…
-
It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting…
-
Optimization hinders evolution.
-
To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program.
-
You think you KNOW when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can…
-
Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.
-
Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
Browse Alan Perlis Quotes by Category