Computer Programming Quotes - Page 8

• A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.

  Alan Perlis

  Attention, Levels, Language

  "Epigrams on Programming". ACM SIGPLAN Notices 17 (9), pp. 7-13, pu.inf.uni-tuebingen.de. September 1982.

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• It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.

  Alan Perlis

  Change, Vices, Computer

  "Epigrams on Programming". ACM SIGPLAN Notices 17 (9), pp. 7-13, pu.inf.uni-tuebingen.de. September 1982.

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• Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermodynamics; i.e. it always increases.

  Norman Ralph Augustine

  Science, Law, Literature

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• Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.

  Laurence J. Peter

  Business, Intelligent, Thinking

  "Peter's Almanac". Book by Laurence J. Peter. Entry for September 24, 1982.

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• BASIC is to computer programming as QWERTY is to typing.

  Seymour Papert

  Computer, Programming, Typing

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• The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but
  how to get old ones out.

  Dee Hock

  Business, Work, Learning

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• The function of good software is to make the complex appear to be simple.

  Grady Booch

  Simple, Simplicity, Computer

  "Qt for Symbian". Book by Frank H. P. Fitzek et al., 2010.

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• He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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• Computer system analysis is like child-rearing; you can do grievous damage, but you cannot ensure success.

  Tom DeMarco

  Children, Analysis, Damage

  Tom DeMarco (1978). “Structured analysis and system specification”, Yourdon Press

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• Programming is similar to a game of golf. The point is not getting the ball in the hole but how many strokes it takes.

  Hayley Mills

  Learning, Golf, Games

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• Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Learning, California, Ideas

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• Programming languages, like pizzas, come in only too sizes; too big and too small.

  Richard E. Pattis

  Learning, Size, Language

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• A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

  Alan Perlis

  Learning, Thinking, Language

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• The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

  Alan Kay

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Steve Jobs”, p.95, Simon and Schuster

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• When in doubt, use brute force.

  Ken Thompson

  Doubt, Use, Programming

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• Scientists build to learn; Engineers learn to build.

  Fred Brooks

  Learning, Scientist, Programming

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• Successful software always gets changed.

  Fred Brooks

  Learning, Successful, Programming

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• If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

  Kurt Lewin

  Change, Business, Understanding

  Attributed in "Problems of Theoretical Psychology - ISTP 1995" by Charles W. Tolman, (p. 31), 1996.

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• The real technology -behind all our other technologies- is language. It actually creates the world our consciousness lives in.

  Andrei Codrescu

  Real, Learning, Technology

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• Question authority; but, raise your hand first.

  Alan Dershowitz

  Learning, Hands, Firsts

  Alan M. Dershowitz (1992). “Chutzpah”, p.184, Simon and Schuster

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• People think that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on each other, like a wall of mini stones.

  Donald Knuth

  Art, Wall, Reality

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• If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it.

  Linus Torvalds

  Inspiring, Thinking, Inspire

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• Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

  Linus Torvalds

  Data, Worry, Structure

  Message to Git Mailing List, lwn.net. July 27, 2006.

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• Learning is never done without errors and defeat.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

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• Adjusting to the requirement for perfection is, I think, the most difficult part of learning to program.

  Fred Brooks

  Thinking, Perfection, Requirements

  "The Mythical Man-Month". Book by Fred Brooks, 1975.

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