Larry Wall: Trending quotes (page 4)

“That could certainly be done, but I don't want to fall into the Forth trap, where every running Forth implementation is really a different language.”

Larry Wall

[199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

“Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.”

Larry Wall

[8571@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1990]
Usenet postings, 1990

“Your csh still thinks true is false. Write to your vendor today and tell them that next year Configure ought to 'rm /bin/csh' unless they fix their blasted shell.”

Larry Wall

Source code, <code>Configure</code>

Thinking , Falseness

“tt>str-> str_pok |= SP_FBM; /* deep magic */s = (unsigned char*)(str-> str_ptr); /* deeper magic */</tt”

Larry Wall

Source code, <code>util.c</code>

“tt>/* And you'll never guess what the dog had *//* in its mouth… */</tt”

Larry Wall

Source code, <code>stab.c</code>

Dogs

“That gets us out of deciding how to spell Reg[ eE] xp?|RE... Of course, then we have to decide what ref $re returns…”

Larry Wall

[199710171838.LAA24968@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

“Would you trust the linguistic intuitions of someone who has been studying Latin or Greek for three days?”

Larry Wall

[199809230518.WAA19312@wall.org, 1998]
Usenet postings, 1998

Study

“There are a lotta computer languages out there doing drugs.”

Larry Wall

Public Talks, The State of the Onion 10

“We question most of the mantras around here periodically, in case you hadn't noticed.”

Larry Wall

[199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

Question

“I think $[ is more like a coelacanth than a mastadon.”

Larry Wall

[199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

Thinking

“tt>echo 'ICK, NOTHING WORKED!!! You may have to diddle the includes.';;</tt”

Larry Wall

Source code, <code>Configure</code>

“I don't like your I-can-use-anything-as-an-adjective attitude.”

Larry Wall

[1994Nov12.013919.21133@netlabs.com, 1994]
Usenet postings, 1994

“But the possibility of abuse may be a good reason for leaving capabilities out of other computer languages, it's not a good reason for leaving capabilities out of Perl.”

Larry Wall

[199709251614.JAA15718@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

“Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.”

Larry Wall

[1992Jul2.222039.26476@netlabs.com, 1992]
Usenet postings, 1992

Hell , Madness

“Perl itself is usually pretty good about telling you what you shouldn't do.”

Larry Wall

[11091@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1991]
Usenet postings, 1991

“Think of prototypes as a funny markup language--the interpretation is left up to the rendering engine.”

Larry Wall

[199710221710.KAA24242@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

Thinking

“I don't know if it's what you want, but it's what you get.”

Larry Wall

[10502@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1990]
Usenet postings, 1990

“I suppose you could switch grammars once you've seen 'use strict subs.”

Larry Wall

[199804140117.SAA02006@wall.org, 1998]
Usenet postings, 1998

“Not that I have anything much against redundancy. But I said that already.”

Larry Wall

[199702271735.JAA04048@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

“Lisp has all the visual appeal of oatmeal with fingernail clippings mixed in.”

Larry Wall

[1994Jul21.173737.16853@netlabs.com, 1994]
Usenet postings, 1994