Lisp isn't a language, it's a building material.
Interpretation
Lisp serves as a foundational tool for building software rather than just a conventional programming language.
Alan Kay's quote highlights the idea that Lisp, a programming language, is not merely a tool for coding, but rather a versatile framework that allows developers to construct complex systems. By likening it to building materials, Kay emphasizes its potential for creativity and innovation in software development, suggesting that programmers can use Lisp to create structures and solutions much like an architect uses bricks and mortar.
In practice
During a tech conference, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of using robust programming languages for development.
The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made. When was the last time a technology with a scale like that was so error-free? The Web, in comparison, is a joke. The Web was done by amateurs.
Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.
The greatest single programming language ever designed
By the time I got to school, I had already read a couple hundred books. I knew in the first grade that they were lying to me because I had already been exposed to other points of view. School is basically about one point of view -- the one the teacher has or the textbooks have. They don't like the idea of having different points of view, so it was a battle. Of course I would pipe up with my five-year-old voice.
Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.
If you're not failing 90% of the time, then you're probably not working on sufficiently challenging problems.
It seemed really amazing that you could write a few lines of code and have it learn to do interesting things.
The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative dimensions that haven't existed in the past.
Ever since the arrival of printing - thought to be the invention of the devil because it would put false opinions into people's minds - people have been arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for language.
Because primarily of the power of the Internet, people of modest means can band together and amass vast sums of money that can change the world for some public good if they all agree.
Mark my word - A combination airplane and motor car is coming.
If you write a blog post, you've got something to say; you're not just creating words and synonyms. We'd like the computers to actually pick up on that semantic meaning.
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