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When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free?

Alan Kay

They don’t like the idea of having different points of view, so it was a battle.
ALAN KAY

Battle Different Idea Point View
So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world.
ALAN KAY

Eight End Five Inch iPhone Presentation ule World
I realized that my usual approach is usually critical. That is, a lot of the things that I do, that most people do, are because they hate something somebody else has done, or they hate that something hasn’t been done.
ALAN KAY

Approach Done Hate Most People Realize Someone Something Usually
I hired finishers because I’m a good starter and a poor finisher.
ALAN KAY

Finisher Good Hire Poor Starter
School is basically about one point of view — the one the teacher has or the textbooks have.
ALAN KAY

Basic Battle One Point School Teacher Textbook View
But Basic happened to be on a GE timesharing system that was done by Dartmouth, and when GE decided to franchise that, it started spreading Basic around just because it was there, not because it had any intrinsic merits whatsoever.
ALAN KAY

Around Basic Decide Done Franchise Happen Spread Timeshare
The flip side of the coin was that even good programmers and language designers tended to do terrible extensions when they were in the heat of programming, because design is something that is best done slowly and carefully.
ALAN KAY

Best Careful Coin Designer Even Extension Flip Good Heat Language Programme Side Tend Terrible
Because the web has produced so much uninformed criticism. It’s kind of a Gresham’s Law-bad money drives the good money out of circulation.
ALAN KAY

Circulation Good Kind Money Out Produce Uniform
Bad User on Device is a medium that can dynamically simulate the details of any other medium, including media that cannot exist physically.
ALAN KAY

Any Bad Detail Device Dynamical Medium Other Simulate User
To get the medium’s magic to work for one’s aims rather than against them is to attain literacy.
ALAN KAY

Against Aim Attain Literacy Magic Medium Rather Work
The most disastrous thing that you can ever learn is your first programming language.
ALAN KAY

Disastrous Ever First Language Learn Most Program Thing
The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made.
ALAN KAY

Internet Man Made Most Natural Ocean Pacific People Resource Something Think
Computer literacy is a contact with the activity of computing deep enough to make the computational equivalent of reading and writing fluent and enjoyable.
ALAN KAY

Activity Computational Computer Contact Deep Enjoy Enough Equipment Fluent Literacy Make Read Write
The perfume part is important because it will help find the knowledge again to help get to the destinations the inner urges pick.
ALAN KAY

Destination Help Important Knowledge Perfume Pick Urge
Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.
ALAN KAY

Complex Possible Simple Thing
Java is the most distressing thing to hit computing since MS-DOS.
ALAN KAY

Compute Distress Dos Hit Java Microsoft Most Since Thing

When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free?

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When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free?

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