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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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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
Mean
Programs
Like
Behave
Machines
Fit
Program
Usually
Ones
Adapting
Means
Hardware

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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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A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
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In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't.
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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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In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
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