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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.

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
Made
Speaks
Japan
English
Computer
Probably
Speak

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There are two ways to write error-free programs only the third one works.
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C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.
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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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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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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
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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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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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You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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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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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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If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.
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In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
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In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.
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It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. 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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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
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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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