Alan Perlis Quotes, Top Down Quotes, Simplicity Quotes

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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Any noun can be verbed.

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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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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word "frustration".

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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 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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C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.

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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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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

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In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.

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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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Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new machines to behave like old ones.

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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.

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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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A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.

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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.

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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

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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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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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