Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Alan Perlis Computer Scientist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Apr 1, 1922
  • Died: Feb 7, 1990

Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 - February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages and the first recipient of the Turing Award.

Perlis was born to a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1943, he received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army, where he became interested in mathematics. He then earned both a master's degree (1949) and a Ph.D. (1950) in mathematics at MIT. His doctoral dissertation was titled "On Integral Equations, Their Solution by Iteration and Analytic Continuation".

In 1952, he participated in Project Whirlwind. He joined the faculty at Purdue University and then moved to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1956. He was chair of mathematics and then the first head of the Computer Science Department. He was elected president of the Association for Computing Machinery in 1962.

A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. God, intelligence & science

You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN. attitude

I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it. technology

In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm. technology

If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan. computers

In computing, turning the obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word 'frustration'. computers

Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer. science