Quotes by Alan Perlis

“One mans constant is another mans variable.”

“Every program has (at least) two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasnt.”

“The string is a stark data structure and everywhere it is passed there is much duplication of process. It is a perfect vehicle for hiding information.”

“Dont have good ideas if you arent willing to be responsible for them.”

“Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.”

“It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical.”

“If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.”

“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.”

“Symmetry is a complexity-reducing concept (co-routines include subroutines); seek it everywhere.”

“We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.”

You can measure a programmers perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.

In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word frustration.

If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.

A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.

Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.

It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical.

In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.

I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.

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