SMALL TALK

... On Computer Languages

A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
      -- Unknown

A language that doesn't have everything is actually easier to program in than some that do.
      -- Dennis M. Ritchie

ADA - from the people who brought you COBOL.
      -- Unknown

ADA is PL/I trying to be Smalltalk.
      -- Codoso diBlini

ADA is the work of an architect, not a computer scientist.
      -- Jean Icbiah, inventor of Ada.

APL is a write-only language. I can write programs in APL, but I can't read it.
      -- Roy Keir

BASIC -- A programming language.  Related to certain social diseases in that those who have it will not admit it in polite company.
      -- Unknown

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.
      -- Bjarne Stroustrup, creator of C++

He who hasn't hacked assemply language as a youth has no heart. He who does as an adult has no brain.
      -- John Moore

I speak BASIC to clients, 1-2-3 to management, and mumble to myself.
      -- Anonymous

If you're masochistic enough to program in ADA, we're not going to stop you.
      -- Matt Welsh

In my egotistical opinion, most people's C programs should be indented six feet downward and covered with dirt.
      -- Blair P. Houghton

It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC; as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
      -- E. W. Dijkstra

LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing.
      -- Alan Perlis

Modula II -- A high-school teacher and Pascal's daughter.  Very much like her mother, but she has learned to cook with more than one pot.
      -- Daniel J. Solomon

Pascal -- A programming language named after a man who would turn over in his grave if he knew about it.
      -- Unknown

Pascal keeps your hand tied. C gives you enough rope to hang yourself.
      -- Unknown

Perl - The only language that looks the same before and after RSA encryption.
      -- Keith Bostic

Perl - The script language to end all script languages.
      -- Matt Welsh

One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.
      -- Robert Firth

The C Programming Language -- A language which combines the flexibility of assembly language with the power of assembly language.
      -- Unknown

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
      -- E. W. Dijkstra

You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing viability of Fortran.
      -- Alan Perlis

You can tell how far we have to go, when FORTRAN is the language of supercomputers.
      -- Steven Feiner

Veni, vidi, parenthesi ... I came, I saw, I programmed in Lisp.
      -- Dave W. Kimball

[Small Talk Index] [Home]