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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.

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
Science
Insists
Graduate
Professor
Graduates
Professors
Computer
Compassion
Students

More quotes by Alan Perlis

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We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
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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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Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
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In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn.
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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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There are two ways to write error-free programs only the third one works.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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There is no such thing as a free variable.
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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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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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Every reader should ask himself periodically “Toward what end, toward what end?”—but do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.
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Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.
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A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
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In English every word can be verbed.
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To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program.
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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
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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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In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.
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A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
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If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up.
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