Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
ALAN PERLISThe best book on programming for the layman is Alice in Wonderland, but that’s because it’s the best book on anything for the layman.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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You think you KNOW when you learn.
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Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
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What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail and learning to be self-critical?
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Banality soothes our nerves.
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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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It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program.
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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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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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If a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up.
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To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program.
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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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In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
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In English every word can be verbed.
ALAN PERLIS