FORTRAN --'the infantile disorder'--, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in read more

FORTRAN --'the infantile disorder'--, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to use.
PL/I --'the fatal disease'-- belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set.
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.
APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because read more

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.

Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.

It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be read more

It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be unprofitable not to be online.

An error is the more dangerous the more truth it contains.

An error is the more dangerous the more truth it contains.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and read more

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

By the time (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) was 10% built, everyone knew it would be a total disaster. But read more

By the time (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) was 10% built, everyone knew it would be a total disaster. But the investment was so big they felt compelled to go on. Since its completion, it cost a fortune to maintain and is still in danger of collapsing. There are no plans to replace it, since it was never needed in the first place. I expect every installation has its own pet software which is analogous to the above.

The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.

The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.

You have to hatch ideas -- and then hitch them.

You have to hatch ideas -- and then hitch them.