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Alan Perlis Quotes

1922–1990 United States

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 .

United States
Computer scientists
Educators
Scientists

Also known as: Perlis, Alan

Random Alan Perlis quote

40 quotes

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

Computer science is neither mathematics nor electrical engineering.

A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing.

Often it is means that justify ends: Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.

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.

Programmers should never be satisfied with languages which permit them to program everything, but to program nothing of interest easily.

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

Structured Programming supports the law of the excluded muddle.

Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.

When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.

Prolonged contact with the computer turns mathematicians into clerks and vice versa.

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

55: LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.

75: The computing field is always in need of new cliches: Banality sooths our nerves.

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

95: Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.

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.

42: You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.

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

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alan Perlis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.