Tag: simplicity

Dennis Ritchie Quotes

Posted on October 14, 2011October 13, 2011 by

A new release of Plan 9 happened in June, and at about the same time a new release of the Inferno system, which began here, was announced by Vita Nuova.

Any editing, software work, and mail is done in this exported Plan 9.

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.

At the same time, much of it seems to have to do with recreating things we or others had already done; it seems rather derivative intellectually; is there a dearth of really new ideas?

C is peculiar in a lot of ways, but it, like many other successful things, has a certain unity of approach that stems from development in a small group.

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.

C++ and Java, say, are presumably growing faster than plain C, but I bet C will still be around.

For infrastructure technology, C will be hard to displace.

I can’t recall any difficulty in making the C language definition completely open – any discussion on the matter tended to mention languages whose inventors tried to keep tight control, and consequent ill fate.

I fix things now and then, more often tweak HTML and make scripts to do things.

I’m just an observer of Java, and where Microsoft wants to go with C# is too early to tell.

I’m not a person who particularly had heros when growing up.

I’ve done a reasonable amount of travelling, which I enjoyed, but not for too long at a time.

Obviously, the person who had most influence on my career was Ken Thompson.

Over the past several years, I’ve been more in a managerial role.

The kind of programming that C provides will probably remain similar absolutely or slowly decline in usage, but relatively, JavaScript or its variants, or XML, will continue to become more central.

The visible things that have come from the group have been the Plan 9 system and Inferno, but I hasten to say that the ideas and the work have come from colleagues.

UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.

When I read commentary about suggestions for where C should go, I often think back and give thanks that it wasn’t developed under the advice of a worldwide crowd.

Creativity & Life Quotes

Posted on September 8, 2011 by

Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Adam Lyons

Any intelligent fool can make things better, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein

Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. – Unknown

You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred. – Woody Allen

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo da Vinci

The past is history. The future is a mystery. This moment is a gift. That’s why this moment is called the present. Enjoy it. – Allan Johnson

If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together. – African proverb

Most homes valued at over $250,000 have a library. That should tell us something. – Jim Rohn

The man is the head [of the family], but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants. – My Big Fat Greek Wedding

To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first. – William Shakespeare

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. – Anonymous

Minds are like parachutes — they only function when open. – Thomas Dewar

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value. – Albert Einstein

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. – Arthur C. Clarke

A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. – Chinese proverb

We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection. – Plato

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. – Albert Einstein

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. – Bill Cosby

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation. – Pearl S. Buck

Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. – Jonathan Swift

When faced with two choices simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for. – Unknown

If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one you wouldn’t have fallen for the second. – Johnny Depp

In the pursuit of knowledge, something is added every day. In the pursuit of enlightenment, something is dropped every day. – Laozi

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. – Unknown

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light. I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. – Sarah Williams

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. – Laozi

Constantin Brancusi Quotes

Posted on February 19, 2011 by

Constantin Brancusi is said to be the most famous Romanian sculptor. Today, we celebrate his birthday. We do it in our own way, sharing Constantin Brancusi quotes. Enjoy and share!

Architecture is inhabited sculpture.

Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave.

Don’t look for obscure formulas or mystery in my work. It is pure joy that I offer you. Look at my sculptures until you see them. Those closest to God have seen them.

Simplicity is not an objective in art, but one achieves simplicity despite one’s self by entering into the real sense of things.

Theories are patterns without value. What counts is action.

There hasn’t been any art yet. Art is just beginning.

They are imbeciles who call my work abstract. That which they call abstract is the most realistic, because what is real is not the exterior but the idea, the essence of things.

I ground matter to find the continuous line. And when I realized I could not find it, I stopped, as if an unseen someone had slapped my hands.

Things are not difficult to make; what is difficult is putting ourselves in the state of mind to make them.

To see far is one thing, going there is another.

What is real is not the external form, but the essence of things… it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface.

When you see a fish you don’t think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water… If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit.