Computer quotes (was computer proverbs)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, James A. Landau wrote:

> Aside to Mark---Fred Shapiro specifically asked for "computer proverbs" and
> people have been using that in the subject lines ever since.  Yes, you are
> right that they mostly fall short of being "proverbs", but it's better for
> Fred to have a full slushpile than an empty page in his new book.

I originally had in mind true computer proverbs like "garbage in, garbage
out."  But really I am interested in all very famous computer-related
quotations.  Jim Landau has worked hard in helping me with this, although
most of the sayings he comes up with are not all that famous.

> Dan Bricklin "Dan Bricklin on VisiCalc" ibid pp 40f
>
> "What I had in mind was a "magic blackboard" where, when one number in the
> equation changed, the computer could automatically refigure the solution and
> change all the numbers in the rows and columns accordingly."

In 1970 when I entered MIT I joined their then-famous tiddlywinks team.
My partner (tournament tiddlywinks is usually played two-against-two) in
my first tournament was not a very good tiddlywinks player, but he made
his mark in the personal computing realm.  His name was Dan Bricklin.
When Byte Magazine published their ranking of the most important figures
in the history of personal computing, Gates was #2 and Dan was #1.  And
Dan is a hell of a lot nicer guy than Gates.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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