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  fortune index  all fortunes 
  
 |  |  | #2441 |  | What the hell is it good for? -- Robert Lloyd (engineer of the Advanced Computing Systems
 Division of IBM), to colleagues who insisted that the
 microprocessor was the wave of the future, c. 1968
 
 |  |  |  | #2442 |  | What this country needs is a good five cent microcomputer. 
 |  |  |  | #2443 |  | "What's that thing?" "Well, it's a highly technical, sensitive instrument we use in
 computer repair.  Being a layman, you probably can't grasp exactly what
 it does.  We call it a two-by-four."
 -- Jeff MacNelley, "Shoe"
 
 |  |  |  | #2444 |  | When Dexter's on the Internet, can Hell be far behind?" 
 |  |  |  | #2445 |  | ... when fits of creativity run strong, more than one programmer or writer has been known to abandon the desktop for the more spacious floor.
 -- Fred Brooks
 
 |  |  |  | #2446 |  | When managers hold endless meetings, the programmers write games. When accountants talk of quarterly profits, the development budget is about
 to be cut.  When senior scientists talk blue sky, the clouds are about to
 roll in.
 Truly, this is not the Tao of Programming.
 When managers make commitments, game programs are ignored.  When
 accountants make long-range plans, harmony and order are about to be restored.
 When senior scientists address the problems at hand, the problems will soon
 be solved.
 Truly, this is the Tao of Programming.
 -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
 
 |  |  |  | #2447 |  | When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.
 
 |  |  |  | #2448 |  | When the Apple IIc was introduced, the informative copy led off with a couple of asterisked sentences:
 
 It weighs less than 8 pounds.*
 And costs less than $1,300.**
 
 In tiny type were these "fuller explanations":
 
 * Don't asterisks make you suspicious as all get out?  Well, all
 this means is that the IIc alone weights 7.5 pounds. The power
 pack, monitor, an extra disk drive, a printer and several bricks
 will make the IIc weigh more. Our lawyers were concerned that you
 might not be able to figure this out for yourself.
 
 ** The FTC is concerned about price fixing. You can pay more if
 you really want to.  Or less.
 -- Forbes
 
 |  |  |  | #2449 |  | When we understand knowledge-based systems, it will be as before -- except our fingertips will have been singed.
 -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982
 
 |  |  |  | #2450 |  | When we write programs that "learn", it turns out we do and they don't. 
 |  |  |  |  |  |   ...            ...   | 
 
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