FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed – it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
ALAN PERLISIf a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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There is no such thing as a free variable.
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Any noun can be verbed.
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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
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Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.
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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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In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.
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Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
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Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches.
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Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle.
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C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.
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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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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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You can measure a programmer’s perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
ALAN PERLIS