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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

This tends to result in very dumbed-down products that are easy to get started on, but are generally worthless and/or debilitating.
ALAN KAY

Debilitation Dumb Easy General Product Result Tend Worthless
Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.
ALAN KAY

Eighty Perspective Point Worth
A computer scientist is a machine for converting coffee into urine.
ALAN KAY

Coffee Computer Convert Machine Scientist Urine
If you’re utopian, you’re never satisfied.
ALAN KAY

Country never Utopian
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
They don’t like the idea of having different points of view, so it was a battle.
ALAN KAY

Battle Different Idea Point View
That language was Joss, which predated Basic and was beautiful.
ALAN KAY

Basic Beautiful Joss Language Predate
In our society we have hard nerds and soft nerds.
ALAN KAY

Hard Nerd Society Soft
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
An important technology first creates a problem and then solves it.
ALAN KAY

Create First Important Problem Solve Technology
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
A new friend is new wine, when it grows old, you will enjoy drinking it.
ALAN KAY

Drink Enjoy Friend Grow New Now Old Wine
It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it.
ALAN KAY

Easier Future Invent Predict
A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Point of view is worth 80 IQ points
ALAN KAY

Change Eighty Perspective Point Worth
I don’t know how many of you have ever met Dijkstra, but you probably know that arrogance in computer science is measured in nano-Dijkstras.
ALAN KAY

Arrogance Computer Ever Know Many Measure Met Nanao People Science
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 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.

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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Alan Kay Quotes