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

Alan Kay

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
When I first prepared this particular talk…
ALAN KAY

First Particular Prepare Talk
I fear – as far as I can tell – that most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java vocational training.
ALAN KAY

Basically Far Jar Java Program Tell Undergraduate Vocational
By the time I got to school, I had already read a couple hundred books.
ALAN KAY

Book Couple Got Hundred School Time
As in all the arts, a romance with the material must be well under way.
ALAN KAY

All Art Material Must Romance Way Well
I think the trick with knowledge is to “acquire it, and forget all except the perfume” – because it is noisy and sometimes drowns out one’s own “brain voices”.
ALAN KAY

Acquire All Except Forget Knowledge Perfume Think Trick
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
Humans are communications junkies. We just can’t get enough.
ALAN KAY

Communication Enough Get Human Junkie
Having an intelligent secretary does not get rid of the need to read, write, and draw, etc.
ALAN KAY

Draw Have Intelligent Need Read Rid Secretary Write
Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.
ALAN KAY

Brick Brute Country Force Million Most Much Pyramid Slave Software Thousand Today Very
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
I made up the term “object-oriented,” and I can tell you I did not have C++ in mind.
ALAN KAY

Language Made Mind Object Orient Tell Term
Any medium powerful enough to extend man’s reach is powerful enough to topple his world.
ALAN KAY

Enough Extend Man Medium Powerful Reach Topple World
Sun Microsystems had the right people to make Java into a first-class language.
ALAN KAY

Class First Java Language Make Microsystem People Right Sun
And when they decided to beef up their OSs, they went to (different) very old bad mainframe models of OS design to try to adapt to personal computers.
ALAN KAY

Adapt Bad Beef Computer Different Mainframe Model Model Decide Old Personal Try Went
Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
ALAN KAY

Anybody Do Else Is Do What Worry

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

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

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