In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word “frustration”.
ALAN PERLISIf you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can’t.
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One can only display complex information in the mind.
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There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
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That it is meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a soap bubble?
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Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
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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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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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I don’t think we are. I think we’re responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house.
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Are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.
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If a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up.
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Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn’t.
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I think it is inevitable that people program poorly.
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
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We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines.
ALAN PERLIS






