Larry Wall Quotes

People who are more than casually interested in computers should have at least some idea of what the underlying hardware is like. Otherwise the programs they write will be pretty weird.

C was already implemented on several quite different machines and OSs, Unix was already being distributed on the PDP-11, but the portability of the whole system was new.

Even though most people won't be directly involved with programming, everyone is affected by computers, so an educated person should have a good understanding of how computer hardware, software, and networks operate.

I'm named after a computer and grew up really interested in them.

I started working at a point in history when digital computers were becoming mature, and before that, there were no such machines.

My colleagues and I were engineers who worked for DCM's calculator division. These electronic calculators used digital integrated circuits, and then they started using chips. The advanced versions of those chips were used for programmable calculators, which were the forerunners of PCs.

I like to stand near ATM machines, and when somebody types in their pin number, I go, 'Got it!' And then I run away.

Modern PCs are horrible. ACPI is a complete design disaster in every way. But we're kind of stuck with it. If any Intel people are listening to this and you had anything to do with ACPI, shoot yourself now, before you reproduce.

Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.

The term architecture is used here to describe the attributes of a system as seen by the programmer, i.e., the conceptual structure and functional behavior, as distinct from the organization of the data flow and controls, the logical design, and the physical implementation. i. Additional details concerning the architecture

What do you wear on a running machine? I can't bring myself to wear flat shoes.

This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can't get my cabinet approved, and they're outstanding people.

In reality, moral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine. That is why these rules at first seem to be constantly interfering with our natural inclinations.

I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom and data is the knowledge.

Machine makers always run the risk of becoming totally machine.

There is an inherent dissonancebetween the quasi-formal world of computer programs - defining the programmed machine in each system - and the non-formal problem world of the system requirements.

Opus Dei is an efficient machine run to achieve world power.

For "Running Up That Hill" we had worked with a drum machine [in 1985]; the basic rhythms of "Running Up That Hill" happened because the whole track was built on a drum machine.

How many times did someone have to run in front of a machine gun before it became an act of cowardice?

Life's gonna run you over if you don't get goin.

And if you're going to be a leader, you know what I ask myself? Would I want to work for you in this job? Would I let my children work for you? Would I give you this job if I wasn't there to provide oversight? If you went to run another company, would I, as an investor, invest in that company?

Chuck Schumer and Nancy's Pelosi party lost. Chuck and Nancy's party haven't won an election that counts other than Barack Obama's presidency in 2008 and 2012. Every other election the Democrats have been running with national House/Senate racers, they're losing.

The only crying shame about it is, when good things happen to you, you run short of time. It takes the same amount of time, however, to tell people, 'It's good to see you again. I'm sorry we only have a minute to talk,' as it does to say, 'I don't have time to talk with you' period.

You do not truly own anything that you can't carry in both arms at a dead run

Managing the other fellow's business is a fascinating game. Trade unionists all over the country have pronounced ideas for the reform of Wall Street banks; and Wall Street bankers are not far behind in giving plans for the tremendous improvement of trade union policies. Wholesalers have schemes for improving the retailer; the retailer knows just what is wrong in the conduct of wholesale business-and we might go through a long list.... Yet for some reason the classes that ought to be helped keep on stubbornly clinging to their own method of running their affairs.