"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 Science See all quotes by Alan Perlis →

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“64: Often it is means that justify ends: Goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.”

“8: A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.”

“39: A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.”

“16: Every program has two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.”

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

“57: It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.”

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