Computing Quotes

• There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.

  Ken Olsen

  Funny, Business, Stupid

  "The 10 Stupidest Things Ever Said By Tech's Smartest People" by Dylan Love, www.businessinsider.com. April 17, 2013.

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• The computer was born to solve problems that did not exist before.

  Bill Gates

  Computer, Problem, Born

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• The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.

  Richard Hamming

  Learning, Math, Numbers

  "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers". Book by Richard Hamming, 1962.

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• Mobile communications and pervasive computing technologies, together with social contracts that were never possible before, are already beginning to change the way people meet, mate, work, war, buy, sell, govern and create.

  Howard Rheingold

  War, Communication, Technology

  "The mobile technofuture" by Neil McIntosh, www.theguardian.com. October 9, 2002.

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• Computing lets people express their creativity and unlock solutions, and code is computing's universal language. All young people, including girls, deserve to be fluent in the language of the future.

  Gabe Newell

  Girl, Creativity, People

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• You have as much computing power in your iPhone as was available at the time of the Apollo missions. But what is it being used for? It’s being used to throw angry birds at pigs; it’s being used to send pictures of your cat to people halfway around the world; it’s being used to check in as the virtual mayor of a virtual nowhere while you’re riding a subway from the nineteenth century.

  Peter Thiel

  Cat, Iphone, Pigs

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• To me, thought-controlled computing is as simple and powerful as a paintbrush - one more tool to unlock and enliven the hidden worlds within us.

  Ariel Garten

  Powerful, Technology, Simple

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• In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word "frustration".

  Alan Perlis

  Frustration, Frustrated, Definitions

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• In 20 or 30 years, you'll be able to hold in your hand as much computing knowledge as exists now in the whole city, or even the whole world.

  Douglas Engelbart

  Technology, Hands, Years

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• Computing is not about computers any more. It is about living.

  Nicholas Negroponte

  Learning, Technology, Computer Literacy

  Nicholas Negroponte (2015). “Being Digital”, p.6, Vintage

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• Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity. ... The geniuses of the computer field, on the the other hand, are the people with the keenest aesthetic senses, the ones who are capable of creating beauty. Beauty is decisive at every level: the most important interfaces, the most important programming languages, the winning algorithms are the beautiful ones.

  David Gelernter

  Beautiful, Learning, Winning

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• Back in 1995, Bill Gates himself didn't understand that the internet was the direction computing was going.

  John Podhoretz

  Bills, Internet, Gates

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• My first program taught me a lot about the errors that I was going to be making in the future, and also about how to find errors. That's sort of the story of my life, making errors and trying to recover from them. I try to get things correct. I probably obsess about not making too many mistakes.

  Donald Knuth

  Mistake, Errors, Trying

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• Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.

  Donald Knuth

  Funny Inspirational, Reading, Following Instructions

  Donald Ervin Knuth (1984). “The texbook”, Addison-Wesley Professional

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• The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse.' There is no evidence that people want to use these things.

  John C. Dvorak

  People, Use, Want

  Review of the Macintosh, The San Francisco Examiner, February 19, 1984.

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• Two years from now, spam will be solved.

  Bill Gates

  Stupid, Years, Two

  "Tech’s Most Dubious Promises, From Bill Gates to Elon Musk". www.wired.com. July 26, 2017.

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• Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity.

  David Gelernter

  Technology, Simplicity, Important

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• I don't need a hard disk in my computer if I can get to the server faster... carrying around these non-connected computers is byzantine by comparison.

  Steve Jobs

  Needs, Byzantine, Computer

  Steve Jobs Apple WWDC Keynote, www.onstartups.com. 1997.

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• The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion.

  Larry Ellison

  Fashion, Computer, Driven

  "Oracle's Ellison Nails Cloud Computing". www.cnet.com. September 26, 2008.

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• I can't think of anything that isn't cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it?

  Larry Ellison

  Talking, Ideas, Idiot

  "Oracle's Ellison Nails Cloud Computing". Oracle OpenWorld 2008 Speech, www.cnet.com. September 26, 2008.

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• We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

  T. S. Eliot

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  Four Quartets "Little Gidding" pt. 5 (1942)

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• I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.

  Bill Gates

  Inspiring, Success, Business

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• 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.

  Alan Perlis

  Fun, Learning, Successful

  "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". Textbook by Gerald Jay Sussman and Hal Abelson, 2nd edition, 1996.

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• Cloud is about how you do computing, not where you do computing

  Paul Maritz

  Clouds, Cloud Computing

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• Object-oriented design is the roman numerals of computing.

  Rob Pike

  Roman Numerals, Design, Objects

  Comment in comp.os.plan9, groups.google.com. 2004.

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