Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground read more

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.

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.

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. -Max Frisch.

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. -Max Frisch.

Mankind always sets itself only such tasks as it can solve; since, looking at the matter more closely, we will read more

Mankind always sets itself only such tasks as it can solve; since, looking at the matter more closely, we will always find that the task itself arises only when the material conditions necessary for its solution already exist or are at least in the process of formation.

It's impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal read more

It's impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal information.

It is not always possible to know what one has learned, or when the dawning will arrive. You will continue read more

It is not always possible to know what one has learned, or when the dawning will arrive. You will continue to shift, sift, to shake out and to double back. The synthesis that finally occurs can be in the most unexpected place and the most unexpected time. My charge ... is to be alert to the dawnings.

The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs read more

The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday.

May every young scientist remember... and not fail to keep his eyes open for the possibility that an irritating failure read more

May every young scientist remember... and not fail to keep his eyes open for the possibility that an irritating failure of his apparatus to give consistent results may once or twice in a lifetime conceal an important discovery. -Patrick Blackett.

Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.

Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.