Larry Wall Quotes

We worked very hard to make extensions very simple.

What is so brilliant about the gadgets is their simplicity.

I like modern efficiencies and functionality.

Computer languages differ not so much in what they make possible, but in what they make easy.

At many levels, Perl is a 'diagonal' language.

A 'goto' in Perl falls into the category of hard things that should be possible, not easy things that should be easy.

Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time

Concentrate on the essentials. We will then be accomplishing the greatest possible results with the effort expended.

When you program, you want to think you're writing the best possible program for the... for the task you're trying to solve.

Guilty as charged. Perl is happily ugly, and happily derivative.

Things that are complex are not useful, Things that are useful are simple.

Our focus was directed at developing the best possible and easiest to use product, and this is where we invested our time. Realize that you won't be able to bring the same focus to everything in the beginning. There won't be enough people or enough hours in the day. So, focus on the 20 percent that makes 80 percent of the difference.

I've reached an age at which I'd rather pay more for something that "just works" than roll up my sleeves, reach for a spanner, and make it work. Time is money, and the older we get the less of it we've got left.

I'm reminded of the day my daughter came in, looked over my shoulder at some Perl 4 code, and said, 'What is that, swearing?

No matter how smart you are, you're smarter if you take the easy ways when they are available.

We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.

Nature...does not act by means of many things when it can do so by means of a few.

Nature is no spendthrift, but takes the shortest way to her ends.

Perl programming is an *empirical* science!

The defining qualities are about use: ease and simplicity. Caring beyond the functional imperative, we also acknowledge that products have a significance way beyond traditional views of function.

There is always a best way of doing everything.

It's actually very difficult to make something both simple and good.

Efficiency for me is an obsession..It not only helps me get stronger but makes things simpler.

As we said in the preface to the first edition, C "wears well as one's experience with it grows." With a decade more experience, we still feel that way.

Get maximum effect from minimum effort.