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We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the read more
We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.
Everything that can be invented, has been invented. - 1899.
Everything that can be invented, has been invented. - 1899.
The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.
The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.
Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically,' they really mean, 'not really.'.
Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically,' they really mean, 'not really.'.
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.
Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. read more
Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.
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.
In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent." read more
In science, "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain read more
About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
