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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.

— Alan Perlis

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More quotes by Alan Perlis

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.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Alan Perlis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.