All Alan Perlis Quotes
Every program has two purposes: The one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.
Alan Perlis
59% of people like this quote
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.
Alan Perlis
57% of people like this quote
We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
Alan Perlis
57% of people like this quote
In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
Alan Perlis
55% of people like this quote
I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.
Alan Perlis
55% of people like this quote
If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
Alan Perlis
54% of people like this quote
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.
Alan Perlis
53% of people like this quote
It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
Alan Perlis
51% of people like this quote
LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
Alan Perlis
48% of people like this quote
Is it possible that software is not like anything else, that it is meant to be discarded: that the whole point is to always see it as a soap bubble?
Alan Perlis
48% of people like this quote
Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
Alan Perlis
47% of people like this quote
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