You can measure a programmer’s perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
ALAN PERLISThere is no such thing as a free variable.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
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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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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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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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You think you KNOW when you learn.
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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
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We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
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One can’t proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed – it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
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We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat’s next-to-last theorem.
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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
ALAN PERLIS