Larry Wall Quotes

There are two methods in software design. One is to make the program so simple, there are obviously no errors. The other is to make it so complicated, there are no obvious errors.

At least for the people who send me mail about a new language that they're designing, the general advice is: do it to learn about how to write a compiler.

The critical thing in developing software is not the program, it's the design. It is translating understanding of user needs into something that can be realized as a computer program.

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.

I felt there was a need for us to build a new programming language. I also had come to see that Microsoft functions best when it controls its own destiny.

When I announced the development of Perl 6, I said it was going to be a community design. I designed Perl, myself. It's limited by my own brain power. So I wanted Perl 6 to be a community design.

Controlling complexity is the essence of computer programming.

Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost.

What I love about design is the artistic and scientific complexity that also becomes useful.

Whenever the C++ language designers had two competing ideas as to how they should solve some problem, they said, "OK, we'll do them both". So the language is too baroque for my taste.

APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.

Simplicity is not the absence of clutter.

Men like phones with lots of buttons. It makes them feel important.

The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.

There is no such thing as a complete lack of order, only a design so vast it appears unrepetitive up close.

Learning to program has no more to do with designing interactive software than learning to touch type has to do with writing poetry

Computer science needs to be part of the core curriculum - like algebra, biology, physics, or chemistry. We need all schools to teach it, not just 10%.

Ha, but my life is a box of wormgears.

Living systems are never in equilibrium. They are inherently unstable. They may seem stable, but they’re not. Everything is moving and changing. In a sense, everything is on the edge of collapse.

One thing I've learned about the Marvel universe is that it's a little bit like God... if you want to make him laugh, just make a plan.

A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.

Any design, any city, any kind of craziness or tragedy, it all comes from a long time of preparation.

The flip side of the coin was that even good programmers and language designers tended to do terrible extensions when they were in the heat of programming, because design is something that is best done slowly and carefully.

Sometimes I feel like a beetle crawling through a fusion power plant. I can feel a certain amount, see a certain amount, but I sure as hell don't understand everything.

Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn