Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.
Alan PerlisRead
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights different attitudes towards complexity in problem-solving.
Alan Perlis suggests that people react to complexity in various ways: fools tend to overlook it, pragmatists endure it, some individuals manage to sidestep it, while geniuses have the ability to simplify and eliminate it. This reflects a deeper understanding of intelligence and problem-solving, indicating that true brilliance lies in the ability to make the complicated seem simple.
Themes
ComplexityProblem-SolvingIntelligenceSimplicityWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a seminar about effective problem-solving strategies.
More from Alan Perlis
All quotes βBecause of its vitality, the computing field is always in desperate need of new cliches: Banality soothes our nerves.
Alan PerlisRead
In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word "frustration".
Alan PerlisRead
It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures.
Alan PerlisRead
A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
Alan PerlisRead
Every reader should ask himself periodically βToward what end, toward what end?ββbut do not ask it too often lest you pass up the fun of programming for the constipation of bittersweet philosophy.
Alan PerlisRead
Similar quotes
The Element is about discovering your self, and you can't do this if you're trapped in a compulsion to conform. You can't be yourself in a swarm.
Ken RobinsonRead
A doctor who doesn't say too many foolish things is a patient half-cured.
Marcel ProustRead
Every one of our greatest national treasures, our liberty, enterprise, vitality, wealth, military power, global authority, flow from a surprising source: our ability to give thanks.
Tony SnowRead
If I should labor through daylight and dark, Consecrate, valorous, serious, true, Then on the world I may blazon my mark; And what if I don't, and what if I do?
Dorothy ParkerRead
Tell troth and shame the devil.
Ben JonsonRead
Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. They want quick success, and they are in such a hurry to get it that they cannot take time to be true to themselves. And when the madness is upon them, they argue that their very haste is a species of integrity.
Thomas MertonRead