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Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.

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
Change
Withstand
Absorb
Languages
Programming
Manage
Progress
Language

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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 English every word can be verbed.
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There are two ways to write error-free programs only the third one works.
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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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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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Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new machines to behave like old ones.
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Often it is the means that justify the ends: goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.
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Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
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A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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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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A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.
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If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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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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