Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages and the first recipient of the Turing Award. Read full biography of Alan Perlis →
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.
In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word 'frustration'.
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?
One man's constant is another man's variable.
We toast the Lisp programmer who pens his thoughts within nests of parentheses.
LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.
It goes against the grain of modern education to teach students to program. What fun is there to making plans, acquiring discipline, organizing... →
You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 – February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages and the first recipient of the Turing Award.