Fernando J. Corbató

"Systems with unknown behavioral properties require the implementation of iterations which are intrinsic to the design process but which are normally hidden from view. Certainly when a solution to a we…"

"To our dismay, users who had been enduring several hour waits between jobs run under batch processing were suddenly restless when response times were more than a second."

"Design bugs are often subtle and occur by evolution with early assumptions being forgotten as new features or uses are added to systems."

"Because one has to be an optimist to begin an ambitious project, it is not surprising that underestimation of completion time is the norm."

"Clearly, one can obfuscate one's ideas with a compiler language but it's harder. To some extent one is talking about what one wants rather than how one wants to do it. The trouble with machine code, o…"

"Regardless of whether one is dealing with assembly language or compiler language, the number of debugged lines of source code per day is about the same!"

"The value of metaphors should not be underestimated. Metaphors have the virtue of an expected behavior that is understood by all. Unnecessary communication and misunderstandings are reduced. Learning …"

"One is faced with a dilemma: If one places total trust in all other users, one is vulnerable to the antisocial behavior of any malicious user—consider the case of viruses. But if one tries to be total…"