Optimization hinders evolution.
ALAN PERLISEvery program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn’t.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
-
-
There is no such thing as a free variable.
ALAN PERLIS -
In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.
ALAN PERLIS -
Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.
ALAN PERLIS -
It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
ALAN PERLIS -
Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely.
ALAN PERLIS -
You’ve solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
ALAN PERLIS -
In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
ALAN PERLIS -
It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.
ALAN PERLIS -
Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
ALAN PERLIS -
I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing.
ALAN PERLIS -
Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle.
ALAN PERLIS -
Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.
ALAN PERLIS -
Don’t have good ideas if you aren’t willing to be responsible for them.
ALAN PERLIS -
If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
ALAN PERLIS -
I think it is inevitable that people program poorly.
ALAN PERLIS