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
Alan Perlis quotes about
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.
writing program
Once you understand how to write a program get someone else to write it.
writing two errors
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
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.
swag swagger
A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.
variables
There is no such thing as a free variable.
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.
computer computer-science embarrassed
Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
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.
procedures parameters computing
If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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.