Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.

There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.

All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.

All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.

Theory provides the maps that turn an uncoordinated set of experiments or computer simulations into a cumulative exploration.

Theory provides the maps that turn an uncoordinated set of experiments or computer simulations into a cumulative exploration.

I used to think that cyberspace was fifty years away. What I thought was fifty years away, was only ten read more

I used to think that cyberspace was fifty years away. What I thought was fifty years away, was only ten years away. And what I thought was ten years away... it was already here. I just wasn't aware of it yet.

The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are read more

The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary.

Polygraph tests are 20th-century witchcraft.

Polygraph tests are 20th-century witchcraft.

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.

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.