Alan Perlis
Alan Perlis
Alan Jay Perliswas an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages and the first recipient of the Turing Award...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth1 April 1922
CountryUnited States of America
ideas responsible willing
Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.
language english-language programming-languages
In English every word can be verbed.
change vices computer
It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
hard-work easy-work problem
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.
thinking today firsts
Motto for a research laboratory: what we work on today, others will first think of tomorrow.
compassion students computer
When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
simplicity simple-life doe
Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
technology thinking people
I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.
technology bird worms
In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
analysis logic cases
Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.
writing two errors
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
two purpose program
Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.
learning thinking knowing
A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
life-and-love suffering fool
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.