Alan Perlis Quotes, Fun Quotes, Learning Quotes

I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. 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. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. 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. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun.

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Tags : Alan Perlis Quotes , Fun Quotes , Learning Quotes

Any noun can be verbed.

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Optimization hinders evolution. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

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Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.

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It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.

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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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There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

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Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.

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Tags : Alan Perlis Quotes , Funny Quotes , Horse Quotes

Every reader should ask himself periodically “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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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.

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Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.

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A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.

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To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program.

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One can only display complex information in the mind. 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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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.

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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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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.

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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

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Often it is the means that justify the ends: goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.

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Tags : Alan Perlis Quotes , Mean Quotes , Goal Quotes