640K ought to be enough for anybody.

640K ought to be enough for anybody.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.

Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, read more

Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the human spark of spirit, compassion, love, and understanding.

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.

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.

You have to hatch ideas -- and then hitch them.

You have to hatch ideas -- and then hitch them.

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

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

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. read more

...there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. In my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.