"I would estimate that the number of programs it breaks in the world will be less than 10. As long as one of those 10 isn't CGI.pm, we're probably okay."

Larry Wall Technology See all quotes by Larry Wall →

React to this quote

More by Larry Wall

“I want to see people using Perl to glue things together creatively, not just technically but also socially.”

“echo $package has manual pages available in source form.echo 'However, you don't have nroff, so they're probably useless to you.”

“Perhaps I'm missing the gene for making enemies.”

“Anyway, there's plenty of room for doubt. It might seem easy enough, but computer language design is just like a stroll in the park.Jurassic Park, that is.”

“We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise.”

“You can prove anything by mentioning another computer language.”

Resonant Thoughts

"So the fact that I had worked in more than a dozen countries and have been working for 25 years trying to implement health, education and social protection programmes, I think really helped me inside …"

— Jim Yong Kim

Politics1959

#knowledge

"The 1918 flu almost certainly didn’t originate in Spain. One popular theory for how it acquired the “Spanish” name posits that Spain was the only country where you could read about the disease. That’s…"

— Joshua Keating

Journalism1901

#science

"Not only in research, but also in the everyday world of politics and economics, we would all be better off if more people realised that simple nonlinear systems do not necessarily possess simple dynam…"

— Robert May

Science1936–2020

#politics

"It reminded him of the man who had a poor old lean, bony, spavined horse, with swelled legs. He was asked what he was going to do with such a miserable beast, the poor creature would die. 'Do?' said h…"

— Abraham Lincoln

Politics1744–1786

#life