Alan Perlis: Computer

Alan Perlis was American computer scientist. Explore interesting quotes on computer.
Alan Perlis: 60 quotes1 like

“There is an appreciated substance to the phrase "ALGOL-like" which is often used in arguments about programming, languages and computation. ALGOL appears to be a durable model, and even flourishes under surgery — be it explorative, plastic, or amputative.”

Alan Perlis

The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems, 1966

“75: The computing field is always in need of new cliches: Banality sooths our nerves.”

Alan Perlis Epigrams on Programming

Epigrams on Programming, 1982

“Both knowledge and wisdom extend man's reach. Knowledge led to computers, wisdom to chopsticks.”

Alan Perlis

The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems, 1966

“80: Prolonged contact with the computer turns mathematicians into clerks and vice versa.”

Alan Perlis Epigrams on Programming

Epigrams on Programming, 1982

“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. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.”

Alan Perlis

Quoted in The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Hal Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman and Julie Sussman (McGraw-Hill, 2nd edition, 1996).

“Computer science is a restless infant and its progress depends as much on shifts in point of view as on the orderly development of our current concepts.”

Alan Perlis

The Synthesis of Algorithmic Systems, 1966