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A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.

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
Everything
Nothing
Lisp
Programmer
Programmers
Cost
Value
Values

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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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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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To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program.
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Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove 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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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
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Any noun can be verbed.
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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
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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't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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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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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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One man's constant is another man's variable.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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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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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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We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.
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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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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
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