Research is the act of going up alleys to see if they are blind.

Research is the act of going up alleys to see if they are blind.

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.

Like the furtive collectors of stolen art, we [cell biologists] are forced to be lonely admirers of spectacular architecture, exquisite read more

Like the furtive collectors of stolen art, we [cell biologists] are forced to be lonely admirers of spectacular architecture, exquisite symmetry, dramas of violence and death, mobility, self-sacrifice and, yes, rococo sex.

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.

Innovators are inevitably controversial.

Innovators are inevitably controversial.

It will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. It read more

It will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. It will open to him the gates of heaven.

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says read more

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

... it is certain that the real function of art is to increase our self-consciousness; to make us more aware read more

... it is certain that the real function of art is to increase our self-consciousness; to make us more aware of what we are, and therefore of what the universe in which we live really is. And since mathematics, in its own way, also performs this function, it is not only aesthetically charming but profoundly significant. It is an art, and a great art.