Overemphasis of efficiency leads to an unfortunate circularity in design: for reasons of efficiency early programming languages reflected the charact…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

The practice of first developing a clear and precise definition of a process without regard for efficiency, and then using it as a guide and a test i…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

With the computer and programming languages, mathematics has newly-acquired tools, and its notation should be reviewed in the light of them. The comp…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

The utility of a language as a tool of thought increases with the range of topics it can treat, but decreases with the amount of vocabulary and the c…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

The precision provided (or enforced) by programming languages and their execution can identify lacunas, ambiguities, and other areas of potential con…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

If it is to be effective as a tool of thought, a notation must allow convenient expression not only of notions arising directly from a problem, but a…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

It is important to distinguish the difficulty of describing and learning a piece of notation from the difficulty of mastering its implications. [...]…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

The initial motive for developing APL was to provide a tool for writing and teaching. Although APL has been exploited mostly in commercial programmin…

- Kenneth E. Iverson

The properties of executability and universality associated with programming languages can be combined, in a single language, with the well-known pro…

- Kenneth E. Iverson