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Fernando J. Corbato Quotes

My definition of elegance is the achievement of a given functionality with a minimum of mechanism and a maximum of clarity.

My definition of elegance is the achievement of a given functionality with a minimum of mechanism and a maximum of clarity.

Fernando J. Corbato
Achievement, Definitions, Clarity
"Computers, Ethics & Social Values". Book edited by Deborah G. Johnson and Helen Fay Nissenbaum, 1995.

The general problem with ambitious systems is complexity. [...] it is important to emphasize the value of simplicity and elegance, for complexity has a way of compounding difficulties.

Fernando J. Corbato
Simplicity, Design, Important

The number of lines of code a programmer can write in a fixed period of time is the same independent of the language used.

Fernando J. Corbato
Writing, Independent, Numbers
"Implementing and Developing Cloud Computing Applications". Book by David E. Y. Sarna, 2010.

Because one has to be an optimist to begin an ambitious project, it is not surprising that underestimation of completion time is the norm.

Fernando J. Corbato
Ambitious, Projects, Optimist
"On Building Systems That Will Fail". Communications of the ACM, Volume 34 Issue 9, dl.acm.org. September 1991.

The use of the high level language made each programmer a factor of 5 to 10 more productive in a coding sense and more concerned with the semantics than the syntax of modules.

Fernando J. Corbato
Syntax, Use, Levels
"A Managerial View of the Multics System Development". Talk at the Conference on Research Directions in Software Technology, Providence, Rhode Island, www.multicians.org. October 1977.

Design bugs are often subtle and occur by evolution with early assumptions being forgotten as new features or uses are added to systems.

Fernando J. Corbato
Design, Use, Bugs
"On Building Systems That Will Fail". Communications of the ACM, Volume 34 Issue 9, dl.acm.org. September 1991.

One is faced with a dilemma: If one places total trust in all other users, one is vulnerable to the antisocial behavior of any malicious user consider the case of viruses. But if one tries to be totally reclusive and isolated, one is not only bored, but one's information universe will cease to grow and be enhanced by interaction with others. The result is that most of us operate in a complicated trade-off zone with various arrangements of trust and security mechanisms.

Fernando J. Corbato
Interaction With Others, Bored, Trying
"On Building Systems That Will Fail". Communications of the ACM, Volume 34 Issue 9, dl.acm.org. September 1991.

Regardless of whether one is dealing with assembly language or compiler language, the number of debugged lines of source code per day is about the same!

Fernando J. Corbato
Numbers, Lines, Language
"PL/I as a Tool for System Programming". Datamation magazine, 15 (5), May 1969.

To our dismay, users who had been enduring several hour waits between jobs run under batch processing were suddenly restless when response times were more than a second.

Fernando J. Corbato
Running, Jobs, Waiting
"On Building Systems That Will Fail". Communications of the ACM, Volume 34 Issue 9, dl.acm.org. September 1991.

The computer field is intoxicated with change. We have seen galloping growth over a period of four decades and it still does not seem to be slowing down. The field is not mature yet and already it accounts for a significant percentage of the Gross National Product both directly and indirectly.

Fernando J. Corbato
Growth, Doe, Four
"On Building Systems That Will Fail". Fernando J. Corbato, "Communications of the ACM", Volume 34, Issue 9, dl.acm.org. September 1991.

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