Alan Perlis (1922 – 1990)
American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages, most notably as a member of the team that developed the ALGOL programming language.
55: LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
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.
19: A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing.
This language [LISP] induces humorous arguments among programmers, often being damned and praised for the same feature.
79: A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
58 Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
101 Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
42: You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.