Alan Perlis quotes

Alan Perlis was an American computer scientist and pioneer in programming languages. A key figure in early computer science, he became the first recipient of the Turing Award. He made lasting contributions to the development of programming language theory and computer education. Here are 48 of his quotes:

Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. (Alan Perlis)
79: A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. View quote
Alan Perlis
58: Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. View quote
Alan Perlis
57: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa. View quote
Alan Perlis
Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon. View quote
Alan Perlis
Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress. View quote
Alan Perlis
A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant. View quote
Alan Perlis
The computing field is always in need of new cliches. View quote
Alan Perlis
LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing. View quote
Alan Perlis
It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one. View quote
Alan Perlis
If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some. (Alan Perlis)
In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages. View quote
Alan Perlis
Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them. View quote
Alan Perlis
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. View quote
Alan Perlis
Every program has two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't. View quote
Alan Perlis
You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN. View quote
Alan Perlis
One man's constant is another man's variable. View quote
Alan Perlis
We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses. View quote
Alan Perlis
In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word 'frustration'. View quote
Alan Perlis
A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures. View quote
Alan Perlis
If a listener nods his head when you're explaining your program, wake him up. (Alan Perlis)
If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan. View quote
Alan Perlis
Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a soap bubble? View quote
Alan Perlis
Often it is the means that justify the ends: goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble. View quote
Alan Perlis
19: A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing. View quote
Alan Perlis

Alan Perlis

Occupation: American Scientist
Born: April 1, 1922
Died: February 7, 1990
Quotes count: 48
Wikipedia: Alan Perlis

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