Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches.
ALAN PERLISOne man’s constant is another man’s variable.
More Alan Perlis Quotes
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Don’t have good ideas if you aren’t willing to be responsible for them.
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Everything should be built top-down, except the first time.
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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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“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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You can measure a programmer’s perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
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A language that doesn’t affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
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In English every word can be verbed.
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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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Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
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Any noun can be verbed.
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I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing.
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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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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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One can’t proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely.
ALAN PERLIS