Alan Perlis quotes - page 2

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:

To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program. (Alan Perlis)
Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve. View quote
Alan Perlis
In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm. View quote
Alan Perlis
116: 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. View quote
Alan Perlis
80: Prolonged contact with the computer turns mathematicians into clerks and vice versa. View quote
Alan Perlis
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. View quote
Alan Perlis
Both knowledge and wisdom extend man's reach. Knowledge led to computers, wisdom to chopsticks. View quote
Alan Perlis
It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures. View quote
Alan Perlis
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works. View quote
Alan Perlis
In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't. View quote
Alan Perlis
Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow. (Alan Perlis)
Adapting old programs to fit new machines usually means adapting new machines to behave like old ones. View quote
Alan Perlis
Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer. View quote
Alan Perlis
Optimization hinders evolution. View quote
Alan Perlis
Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it. View quote
Alan Perlis
I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it. View quote
Alan Perlis
One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means. View quote
Alan Perlis
Programmers should never be satisfied with languages which permit them to program everything, but to program nothing of interest easily. View quote
Alan Perlis
This language [LISP] induces humorous arguments among programmers, often being damned and praised for the same feature. View quote
Alan Perlis
There is an appreciated substance to the phrase "ALGOL-like" which is often used in arguments about programming, languages and computation. ALGOL appears to be a durable model, and even flourishes under surgery - be it explorative, plastic, or amputative. View quote
Alan Perlis
The vision we have of conversational programming takes in much more than rapid turn around time and convenient debugging aids: our most interesting programs are never wrong and never final. [...] What is new is the requirement to make variable in our languages what we had previously taken as fixed. I do not refer to new data classes now, but to variables whose values are programs or parts of programs, syntax or parts of syntax, and regimes of control. (Alan Perlis)
Computer science is a restless infant and its progress depends as much on shifts in point of view as on the orderly development of our current concepts. View quote
Alan Perlis
When someone says, "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done," give him a lollipop. 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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