I think it killed the performance on a lot of the systems in the Labs for years because everyone had their own copy of it, but it wasn't being shared, and so they wasted huge amounts of memory back when memory was expensive.
Learn it all, then forget it all.
C has all the expressive power of two dixie cups and a string.
In C there are no data structures: there are pointers and pointer arithmetic. So you have a pointer into a data structure.
C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.
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.
...forgetting is vastly underrated as a mental operation.
If you tell the truth, then you don't have to have a good memory
I've got a prostate the size of a honeydew and a head full of bad memories.
Never tell a computer to forget it.
I use memories but I will not allow memories to use me.
C++ is a pile of crap.
I started out with machine code and assembly language.
As soon as the error has been recognized and corrections made, it's equally important that the error be forgotten and the successful attempt remembered and dwelt upon.
The function of memory is not only to preserve, but also to throw away. If you remembered everything from your entire life, you would be sick.
RAM: This gives guys a way of deciding whose computer has the biggest, studliest memory. That's important, because the more memory a computer has, the faster it can produce error messages.
Memory is the miser of the mind; forgetfulness the spendthrift.
Caches aren't architecture, they're just optimization.
The whole point is, we can forget. It’s important that we forget some things. Otherwise we’d go round the world carrying a hodload of stuff we just don’t need.
The central problem of C and C++ is that they require programmers to do their own memory management
Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.
I wanted to have virtual memory, at least as it's coupled with file systems.
I think it's part of your mental health to let go of things. I think if you would have it all right there, it would be a little overwhelming. I don't know how you'd have a relationship. When you have a relationship, don't two people collude to kind of forget certain things?
But don’t forget that memory is like salt: the right amount brings out the flavour in food, too much ruins it. If you live in the past all the time, you’ll find yourself with no present to remember.
I'm not a real programmer. I throw together things until it works then I move on. The real programmers will say Yeah it works but you're leaking memory everywhere. Perhaps we should fix that. I'll just restart Apache every 10 requests.
