It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the read more

It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand. -Galileo Galilei.

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.

Men have become the tools of their tools.

Men have become the tools of their tools.

The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to read more

The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited.

If a trainstation is where the train stops, what's a workstation...?

If a trainstation is where the train stops, what's a workstation...?

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.

Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus read more

The consequences of things are not always proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events that have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.

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.