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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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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
Languages
Programming
English
Word
Language
Every
Would

More quotes by Alan Perlis

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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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Optimization hinders evolution.
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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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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.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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One man's constant is another man's variable.
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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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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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We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
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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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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
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Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
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Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.
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There is no such thing as a free variable.
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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
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There are two ways to write error-free programs only the third one works.
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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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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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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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