Quotes on Computer Systems

The inside of a computer is as dumb as hell but it goes like mad!

On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

In engineering, as in other creative arts, we must learn to do analysis to support our efforts in synthesis. One cannot build a beautiful and functional bridge without a knowledge of steel and dirt, and a considerable mathematical technique for using this knowledge to compute the properties of structures. Similarly, one cannot build a beautiful computer system without a deep understanding of how to "previsualize" the process generated by the code one writes.

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.