Alan J. Perlis > Quotes

“A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“I think that it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out it was an awful lot of fun. Of course the paying customers got shafted every now and then and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful error-free perfect use of these machines. I don’t think we are. I think we’re responsible for stretching them setting them off in new directions and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all I hope we don’t become missionaries. Don’t feel as if you’re Bible sales-men. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don’t feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What’s in your hands I think and hope is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it that you can make it more.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“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?”
― Alan J 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.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than 10 functions on 10 data structures.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“If art interprets our dreams, the computer executes them in the guise of programs!”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“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.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“What's in your hands I think and hope is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it that you can make it more.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“One can’t proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means”
― Alan J. Perlis

“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.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“One does not learn computing by using a hand calculator, but one can forget arithmetic. Perlis 1982”
― Alan J. Perlis

“It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail and learning to be self-critical?”
― Alan J. Perlis

“A year spent in Artificial Intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“I think it’s extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun
in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course,
the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we
began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as though we
really were responsible for the successful, error-free, perfect use of these
machines. I don’t think we are. I think we’re responsible for stretching them,
setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. Fun comes
in many ways. Fun comes in making a discovery, proving a theorem, writing
a program, breaking a code. Whatever form or sense it comes in I hope the
field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we
don’t become missionaries. What you know about computing other people
will learn. Don’t feel as though the key to successful computing is only in
your hands. What’s in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability
to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you
can make it more.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.”
― Alan J. Perlis

“I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. ... What you know about computing other people will learn. Don’t feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What’s in your hands I think and hope is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“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.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

“Since large programs grow from small ones, it is crucial that we develop an arsenal of standard program structures of whose correctness we have become sure—we call them idioms—and learn to combine them into larger structures using organizational techniques of proven value.”
― Alan J. Perlis, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs