A Quote by Alan Perlis

A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.

Alan Perlis

Quote Topics

Attention Irrelevant Language Level Low Low Level Programming Programs Require

Quote Author

Alan Perlis
American - Scientist
April 1, 1922 - February 7, 1990

The establishment of formal standards for proofs about programs... and the proposal that the semantics of a programming language may be defined independently of all processors for that language, by establishing standards of rigor for proofs about programs in the language, appears to be novel.

Robert W. Floyd

A programming language is for thinking about programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen.

Paul Graham

To not follow the dharma, either intentionally or through lack of awareness, creates a very low level of attention. In this low level of attention we make all kinds of mistakes and we are unhappy no matter what good fortune befalls us.

Frederick Lenz

The principal lesson of Emacs is that a language for extensions should not be a mere "extension language". It should be a real programming language, designed for writing and maintaining substantial programs. Because people will want to do that!

Richard Stallman

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it.

Dennis Ritchie

To summarize, using money to motivate people can be a double-edged sword. For tasks that require cognitive ability, low to moderate performance-based incentives can help. But when the incentive level is very high, it can command too much attention and thereby distract the person’s mind with thoughts about the reward. This can create stress and ultimately reduce the level of performance.

Dan Ariely

Low-level programming is good for the programmer's soul.

John Carmack

Between rounds of speed chess I read enough of a programming manual to teach myself to write programs on the school's DEC mainframe in the language Basic.

Eric Allin Cornell

The body is a very low level machine language. The language of the soul, of the mind, is much more evolved.

Frederick Lenz

But active programming consists of the design of new programs, rather than contemplation of old programs.

Niklaus Wirth

Much of my work has come from being lazy. I didn't like writing programs, and so, when I was working on the IBM 701 (an early computer), writing programs for computing missile trajectories, I started work on a programming system to make it easier to write programs.

John Backus

I don't know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language [...] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way.

Rasmus Lerdorf

Public swimming pools, recreation centers, summer reading programs, youth jobs programs - they are all shutting their doors. And they are all facilities and programs relied on most heavily by low-income children.

Darell Hammond

A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

Alan Perlis

Too many managers and executives try to reduce programming to a low-level assembly-line activity. That's inefficient, wasteful, costly in the long run, and inhumane to programmers.