Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
ALAN PERLISOptimization hinders evolution.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.
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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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In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can’t.
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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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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
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Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches.
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I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun.
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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 English every word can be verbed.
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When someone says, “I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done,” give him a lollipop.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely.
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If a listener nods his head when you’re explaining your program, wake him up.
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A picture is worth 10K words – but only those to describe the picture.
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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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One man’s constant is another man’s variable.
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One can’t proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.
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One can only display complex information in the mind.
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Optimization hinders evolution.
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You’ve solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
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You think you KNOW when you learn.
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Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle.
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Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.
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C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.
ALAN PERLIS