In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word “frustration”.
ALAN PERLISWhen a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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One can’t proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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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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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
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In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
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The 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.
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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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Every reader should ask himself periodically.
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Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle.
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In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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“Toward what end, toward what end?”-but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.
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A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.
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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.
ALAN PERLIS