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
fun philosophy bittersweet
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.
fun learning self
It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self critical.
fun learning successful
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.
funny-inspirational giving done
When someone says, "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I want done," give him a lollipop.
funny horse humor
Learning French is trivial: the word for horse is cheval, and everything else follows in the same way.
trust data function
It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.
american-scientist data everywhere hiding passed perfect stark string structure vehicle
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.
Every program has two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.
concept include seek
Symmetry is a complexity-reducing concept (co-routines include subroutines); seek it everywhere.
nests ballpoint-pens parentheses
We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
progress language programming
Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
book wonderland programming
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.
learning evolution programming
Optimization hinders evolution.
writing learning thinking
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.