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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.

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
Hardly
Pictures
Picture
Swag
Worth
Swagger
Words
Adequately
Described
Sets
Describe

More quotes by Alan Perlis

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When someone says, I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done, give him a lollipop.
Alan Perlis
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You think you KNOW when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.
Alan Perlis
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Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.
Alan Perlis
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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.
Alan Perlis
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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
Alan Perlis
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In English every word can be verbed.
Alan Perlis
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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
Alan Perlis
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
Alan Perlis
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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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We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.
Alan Perlis
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Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
Alan Perlis
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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.
Alan Perlis
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Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
Alan Perlis
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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
Alan Perlis
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Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new machines to behave like old ones.
Alan Perlis
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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
Alan Perlis
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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
Alan Perlis
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Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
Alan Perlis
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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.
Alan Perlis
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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?
Alan Perlis