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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
Alan Perlis
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Alan Perlis
Age: 67 †
Born: 1922
Born: April 1
Died: 1990
Died: February 7
Computer Scientist
Mathematician
University Teacher
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Alan Jay Perlis
Alan J. Perlis
Grows
Fortran
Every
Blooms
Hardy
Occasionally
Weed
Programming
Computer
Flower
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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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Any noun can be verbed.
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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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Because of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches: Banality soothes our nerves.
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Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
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One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.
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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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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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