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In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't.

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
Symbiosis
Adjust
Machine
Machines
Must
Men

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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.
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Optimization hinders evolution.
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If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.
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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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Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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One man's constant is another man's variable.
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
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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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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
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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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There are two ways to write error-free programs only the third one works.
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One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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In English every word can be verbed.
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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.
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Any noun can be verbed.
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In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.
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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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We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.
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