Computer Programming Quotes - Page 7

• In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important as remembering.

  William James

  Education, Teacher, Learning

  William James (2012). “Psychology: The Briefer Course”, p.167, Courier Corporation

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• The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject, one teaches a student how to learn it.

  Jacques Barzun

  Teacher, Truth, Science

  "Reasons to De-Test the Schools". The New York Times, October 11, 1988.

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• Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.

  Walter Chrysler

  Funny, Jobs, Hard Work

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• There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.

  Ken Olsen

  Funny, Business, Stupid

  "The 10 Stupidest Things Ever Said By Tech's Smartest People" by Dylan Love, www.businessinsider.com. April 17, 2013.

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• Microsoft has a new version out, Windows XP, which according to everybody is the 'most reliable Windows ever.' To me, this is like saying that asparagus is 'the most articulate vegetable ever.'

  Dave Barry

  Technology, Vegetables, Microsoft

  Dave Barry (2003). “Boogers Are My Beat: More Lies, but Some Actual Journalism”, p.177, Crown Archetype

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• Any fool can use a computer. Many do.

  Ted Nelson

  Technology, Use, Fool

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• Computers are getting smarter all the time. Scientists tell us that soon they will be able to talk to us. (And by 'they', I mean 'computers'. I doubt scientists will ever be able to talk to us.)

  Dave Barry

  Mean, Technology, Doubt

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• It is not about bits, bytes and protocols, but profits, losses and margins.

  Lou Gerstner

  Loss, Technology, Computer

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• That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted.

  George Boole

  Learning, Expression, Language

  George Boole (1854). “An Investigation of the Laws of Thought: On which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities”, p.24

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• If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100 and get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside.

  Robert X. Cringely

  Funny, Humor, Technology

  "Noted from the field". "InfoWorld Magazine", Volume 11, Number 10, March 6, 1989.

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• Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.

  Alan Kay

  Simple, Simplicity, Should

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• At first I hoped that such a technically unsound project would collapse but I soon realized it was doomed to success. Almost anything in software can be implemented, sold, and even used given enough determination. There is nothing a mere scientist can say that will stand against the flood of a hundred million dollars. But there is one quality that cannot be purchased in this way - and that is reliability. The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity. It is a price which the very rich find most hard to pay.

  Tony Hoare

  Determination, Learning, Code Quality

  "The Emperor's Old Clothes". Communications of the ACM 24, dl.acm.org. February 1981.

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• There is a race between the increasing complexity of the systems we build and our ability to develop intellectual tools for understanding their complexity. If the race is won by our tools, then systems will eventually become easier to use and more reliable. If not, they will continue to become harder to use and less reliable for all but a relatively small set of common tasks. Given how hard thinking is, if those intellectual tools are to succeed, they will have to substitute calculation for thought.

  Leslie Lamport

  Learning, Thinking, Race

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• A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

  Douglas Adams

  Inspirational, Funny, Fake People

  Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.690, Pan Macmillan

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• They know enough who know how to learn.

  Henry Adams

  Education, Teacher, Learning

  The Education of Henry Adams ch. 21 (1907)

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• Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

  Howard Aiken

  Life And Love, Business, Congratulations

  "A Computer Science Reader : Selections from Abacus" by Eric A. Weiss, (p. 404), 1988.

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• The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'

  Isaac Asimov

  Inspirational, Funny, Motivational

  "Betting On a Bass That Belts Them Out; Singing Fish Becomes Season’s Unlikely Hit" by Darragh Johnson, The Washington Post, July 30, 2000.

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• Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermodynamics; i.e. it always increases.

  Norman Ralph Augustine

  Science, Law, Literature

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• It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  "'The Ascent of Man' ('Knowledge or Certainty')". Documentary TV Mini-Series, Episode 11, 1973.

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• The best way to predict the future is to create it.

  Peter Drucker

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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  It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.

  Carl Friedrich Gauss

  Mathematics, Mathematical, Possession

  Letter to Farkas Bolyai, September 02, 1808.

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• A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.

  Grace Hopper

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  1987 Address at Trinity College, Washington. Reported in Time, 22 Jun.

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• Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs. Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do.

  Donald Knuth

  Change, Attitude, Learning

  "The Art of Computer Programming. Volume 3". Book by Donald Knuth, www.wired.com. 1973.

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• Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.

  Laurence J. Peter

  Business, Intelligent, Thinking

  "Peter's Almanac". Book by Laurence J. Peter. Entry for September 24, 1982.

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• If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Technology, Men, Buttons

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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