Philip Greenspun

Progress in computer science is made with the distribution of revolutionary software systems and the publication of revolutionary books. We don't need…

— Philip Greenspun

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

Even within traditional universities there has always been debate about whether it wouldn't be better to focus on only one course at…

— Philip Greenspun

The book the Ziff folks sent me as an example of their art was 'Late Night VRML 2.0 with Java,' 700 pages…

— Philip Greenspun

Start by putting yourself in your users' shoes. Why are they coming to your site? If you look at most Web sites,…

— Philip Greenspun

Remember that in 1993 a company with a bad Web site needed an engineer. Today, a company with a bad Web site…

— Philip Greenspun

We're not a vocational school. If someone wants to get a high-paying job, I would hope that there are easier ways to…

— Philip Greenspun

“Programmers are isolated. They sit in their cubicle; they don't think about the larger picture. To my mind, a programmer is not…

— Philip Greenspun

Pilots enjoy the fun and challenge of handling the fancy machine.

— Philip Greenspun

“Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.”

— Philip Greenspun

I don't myself believe in astrology. However, I think that's because I'm a Libra and Libras are always skeptical.

— Philip Greenspun

The devil is real. He lives inside C programs.

— Philip Greenspun

Even the lamest page can be saved by collaboration.

— Philip Greenspun

Most people who are rich chose their parents wisely.

— Philip Greenspun

Everything that I've learned about computers at MIT I have boiled down into three principles: Unix: You think it won't work, but…

— Philip Greenspun

An unmarried adult who cannot navigate the welfare system has no choice but to work, but a married working parent is constantly…

— Philip Greenspun

Frame is a good enough piece of software that there are actually rewards to taking an intelligent and formal approach to your…

— Philip Greenspun

Although the Buddhists will tell you that desire is the root of suffering, my personal experience leads me to point the finger…

— Philip Greenspun

SQL, Lisp, and Haskell are the only programming languages that I've seen where one spends more time thinking than typing.

— Philip Greenspun

When you choose a language, youre also choosing a community. The programmers youll be able to hire to work on a Java…

— Philip Greenspun

If I'd had more time or been a better writer, I would have tried to put the same ideas and experiences into…

— Philip Greenspun

We worried about competitors, but it was an unreasonable fear. As a friend once pointed out, most gunshot wounds are self-inflicted.

— Philip Greenspun

Like most people in Academia, my vision of the future is the same as the average industry person's vision of five years…

— Philip Greenspun

The real challenge of being a flight attendant is getting people out. The training requires that they demonstrate they can evacuate an…

— Philip Greenspun