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We are on the verge: Today our program proved Fermat's next-to-last theorem.

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
Theorems
Verge
Proved
Program
Lasts
Last
Next
Fermat
Today
Theorem

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In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.
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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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Any noun can be verbed.
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Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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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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Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
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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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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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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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Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.
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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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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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In English every word can be verbed.
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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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We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
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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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If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.
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