20th-century Computer Scientist Quotes

If you use a Macintosh or an iPhone, which honestly I would not recommend, you would be using code that I wrote more than 25 years ago.

The next big thing is the one that makes the last big thing usable.

I deny any government, elected or not, the right to kidnap my children and ship them off to a battlefield to kill or be killed. I accept to pay taxes and that's the sum total of my debt to my government. In every other respect, my government owes me, not the other way around. Conscription is the most fundamental denial of liberty, on a par with slavery. I am not a pacifist and I support a professional army. But I oppose the draft even in times of war. If your country cannot find enough volunteers to defend itself when attacked, then it's not worth defending.

Bernard Chazelle

The best designers in the world all squint when they look at something. They squint to see the forest from the trees - to find the right balance. Squint at the world. You will see more, by seeing less.

Programming is the art of writing essays in crystal clear prose and making them executable

Per Brinch Hansen

We Reject: kings, presidents and voting.
We Believe In: rough consensus and running code.

The fact is, when you look at the best teams—like the ones that existed at Toyota or 3M when Takeuchi or Nonaka wrote their paper, or the ones at Google or Salesforce.com or Amazon today—there isn't this separation of roles.

Jeff Sutherland

Whatever one may think about engineers, one must admit they write clearly, to the point, and engagingly. They have realized long ago that if you wish the reader to follow rather than decipher, the linear deductive technique of exposition is the worst.

Jacob T. Schwartz

The old computing was about what computers could do; the new computing is about what users can do. Successful technologies are those that are in harmony with users' needs. They must support relationships and activities that enrich the users' experiences.

Ben Shneiderman

Pascal and C are special-purpose languages for manipulating the registers and memory of a von Neumann-style computer.

A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal - Panama

Guy L. Steele Jr.

A manager's most important work is helping the people doing the work. Give them a goal and let them work. Remove any impediments that get in their way. Do anything that make them more effective or productive. Then the organization can capitalize on the fruits of their work.

In a world filled with violence, hatred, and suspicion, giving is an expression of faith, trust, and concern.

Douglas A. Lawson

I remain convinced that neither religion nor science has everything figured out.

This ambiguity is another example of a growing problem with mathematical notation: There aren't enough squiggles to go around.

I'm a future-hacker; I'm trying to get root access to the future. I want to raid its system of thought.