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Alan Perlis Quotes (1922-1990)
Scientist
About Alan Perlis
Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages, most notably as a member of the team that developed the ALGOL programming language. He was the first recipient of the prestigious ACM Turing Award https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/perlis_0132439.cfm.
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“1: One man's constant is another man's variable.”
“11: If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.”
“55: LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.”
“31: Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.”
“41: Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.”
“57: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.”
“79: A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”
“75: The computing field is always in need of new cliches: Banality sooths our nerves.”
“80: Prolonged contact with the computer turns mathematicians into clerks and vice versa.”
“59: In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.”
“8: A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.”
“19: A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.”
“58: Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.”
“42: You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.”
“16: Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.”
“Programmers should never be satisfied with languages which permit them to program everything, but to program nothing of interest easily.”
“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.”
“64: Often it is means that justify ends: Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.”
“101 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.”
“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.”
Alan Perlis Quotes by Topic
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Alan Perlis on Programming 5 quotes
View all 5 quotes on Programming →Alan Perlis on Lisp (programming language) 2 quotes
“A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.”
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Alan Perlis on Programming languages 2 quotes
“When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.”
Alan Perlis on Computer science
“Computer science is neither mathematics nor electrical engineering.”
Alan Perlis on Electrical engineering
“Computer science is neither mathematics nor electrical engineering.”
Alan Perlis on God
“A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”
Alan Perlis on Artificial intelligence
“A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”
Alan Perlis on Simplicity
“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.”
Alan Perlis on Complexity
“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.”
Alan Perlis on Consequentialism
“Often it is means that justify ends: Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.”
Alan Perlis on ALGOL
“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.”
Alan Perlis on Pascal (programming language)
“Pascal is for building pyramids -- imposing, breathtaking, static structures built by armies pushing heavy blocks into place. Lisp is for building organisms -- imposing, breathtaking, dynamic structures built by squads fitting fluctuating myriads of simpler organisms into place.”
About Alan Perlis
Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages, most notably as a member of the team that developed the ALGOL programming language. He was the first recipient of the prestigious ACM Turing Award https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/perlis_0132439.cfm.
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