When someone says, “I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done,” give him a lollipop.
ALAN PERLISA programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines.
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Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches.
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Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new machines to behave like old ones.
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Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.
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I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun.
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One man’s constant is another man’s variable.
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You think you KNOW when you learn.
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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
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Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle.
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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
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A picture is worth 10K words – but only those to describe the picture.
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Don’t have good ideas if you aren’t willing to be responsible for them.
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If a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up.
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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed – it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
ALAN PERLIS