From: Jason Sewall
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <3E9A32DA.5040202@rocknroll.umcs.maine.edu>
Karl M. Hegbloom wrote:
> Does anyone know who to attribute that to? I first saw it in this
> newsgroup, and have been wondering where it originated.
>
> (Please Cc via email)
>
I've heard that before. It sounds like Paul Graham to me.
<A HREF="http://www.paulgraham.com/>http://www.paulgraham.com/</A>
Possibly Guy Steele, Jr., but my money's on Graham.
Jason
From: Henrik Motakef
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <87el45k76c.fsf@interim.henrik-motakef.de>
"Karl M. Hegbloom" <·······@hegbloom.net> writes:
>["Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"]
> Does anyone know who to attribute that to? I first saw it in this
> newsgroup, and have been wondering where it originated.
This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
Spencer. I guess that several people came up with the adoption to Lisp
independently.
For a similar, all-Lisp quote, see Greenspun's Tenth Rule of
Programming: "Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program
contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified bug-ridden slow
implementation of half of Common Lisp."
Regards
Henrik
From: Florian Weimer
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <87fzolaadg.fsf@deneb.enyo.de>
Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
> This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
> condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
> frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
> Spencer.
And this one is a new version of "Thos who don't understand history
are condemned to repeat it".
From: Florian Weimer
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <87d6jpaad6.fsf@deneb.enyo.de>
Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
> This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
> condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
> frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
> Spencer.
And this one is a new version of "Those who don't understand history
are condemned to repeat it".
In article <··············@deneb.enyo.de>,
Florian Weimer <··@deneb.enyo.de> wrote:
>Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
>
>> This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
>> condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
>> frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
>> Spencer.
>
>And this one is a new version of "Those who don't understand history
>are condemned to repeat it".
"Those that do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -
Santayana
Thank God no one's replaced "history" with "lisp" in these
quotes, though:
"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from
history." - Hegel
"History is more or less bunk." - Henry Ford
--Sashank
From: Kent M Pitman
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <sfwu1d1qfm3.fsf@shell01.TheWorld.com>
And of course there's the related maxim:
Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming: "Any sufficiently complicated
C or Fortran program contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified
bug-ridden slow implementation of half of Common Lisp."
Source: http://philip.greenspun.com/research/
From: Joe Marshall
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <4r51ccom.fsf@ccs.neu.edu>
Florian Weimer <··@deneb.enyo.de> writes:
> Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
>
> > This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
> > condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
> > frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
> > Spencer.
>
> And this one is a new version of "Those who don't understand history
> are condemned to repeat it".
From `The Columbia World of Quotations':
`Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it.'
-- George Santayana (1863-1952)
Life of Reason, 'Reason in Common Sense', ch. 12 (1905-6)
William L. Shirer made these words the epigraph for his Rise and Fall
of the Third Reich (1959)
From: Christopher Browne
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <b7f79b$bdc7$2@ID-125932.news.dfncis.de>
In an attempt to throw the authorities off his trail, Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> transmitted:
> Florian Weimer <··@deneb.enyo.de> writes:
>
>> Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
>>
>> > This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
>> > condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
>> > frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
>> > Spencer.
>>
>> And this one is a new version of "Those who don't understand history
>> are condemned to repeat it".
>
> From `The Columbia World of Quotations':
>
> `Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it.'
> -- George Santayana (1863-1952)
> Life of Reason, 'Reason in Common Sense', ch. 12 (1905-6)
>
> William L. Shirer made these words the epigraph for his Rise and Fall
> of the Third Reich (1959)
.. But I seem to recall Santayana recognizing that it was a quote
from someone much earlier, like Pliny or Tacitus or such... (e.g. -
someone that died considerably more than a thousand years before Lisp
was discovered...)
--
(concatenate 'string "cbbrowne" ·@acm.org")
http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/oses.html
I'm not born again -- my mother got it right the first time.
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <3E9B3965.3050803@nyc.rr.com>
Christopher Browne wrote:
> In an attempt to throw the authorities off his trail, Joe Marshall <···@ccs.neu.edu> transmitted:
>
>>Florian Weimer <··@deneb.enyo.de> writes:
>>
>>
>>>Henrik Motakef <··············@web.de> writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>>This is a modification of "Those who don't understand Unix are
>>>>condemned to reinvent it, poorly" (that seems to be the most
>>>>frequently used version of his quote, anyway), attributed to Henry
>>>>Spencer.
>>>
>>>And this one is a new version of "Those who don't understand history
>>>are condemned to repeat it".
>>
>>From `The Columbia World of Quotations':
>>
>>`Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it.'
>> -- George Santayana (1863-1952)
>> Life of Reason, 'Reason in Common Sense', ch. 12 (1905-6)
>>
>>William L. Shirer made these words the epigraph for his Rise and Fall
>>of the Third Reich (1959)
>
>
> .. But I seem to recall Santayana recognizing that it was a quote
> from someone much earlier, like Pliny or Tacitus or such... (e.g. -
> someone that died considerably more than a thousand years before Lisp
> was discovered...)
fwiw, my bartlett's cross-references any cases of similar quotations,
and santayana's stands without footnote. come to think of it, if it was
someone else's they would have attributed it to them.
while researching this (to avoid starting my taxes) I learned from Pliny
the Elder how to swim faster (fill my mouth with olive oil and dribble
it out as I go), and perhaps a tip on how better to program software:
"Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd
numbers are the most effectual?" (cross-referenced to Virgil's "The god
delights in an odd number.").
Pliny the Younger's best was explaining why it took me 49 years living
within 5 miles of the Statue of Liberty to first land on its island:
"Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea
are often neglected if they lie under our eye."
In Tacitus I found only commentary on USA-Iraq, Game Two:
"The gods are on the side of the stronger."
"Where [the Romans] make a desert, they call it peace."
"It is the rare fortune these days that a man may think what he likes
and say what he thinks."
--
kenny tilton
clinisys, inc
http://www.tilton-technology.com/
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Everything is a cell." -- Alan Kay
From: Coby Beck
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <b7g7a5$1k9o$1@otis.netspace.net.au>
"Joe Marshall" <···@ccs.neu.edu> wrote in message
·················@ccs.neu.edu...
> `Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it.'
> -- George Santayana (1863-1952)
> Life of Reason, 'Reason in Common Sense', ch. 12 (1905-6)
>
"Invent a clever saying, and your name shall live forever"
-- Anonymous
--
Coby Beck
(remove #\Space "coby 101 @ bigpond . com")
(one of my favorites! --not original)
From: Francois-Rene Rideau
Subject: Re: Who first said "Those who do not study Lisp are doomed to reimplement it, poorly"?
Date:
Message-ID: <87el44sg9q.fsf@Samaris.tunes.org>
"Karl M. Hegbloom" <·······@hegbloom.net> writes:
> Does anyone know who to attribute that to? I first saw it in this
> newsgroup, and have been wondering where it originated.
I didn't originate this one, but I wrote something similar into my sig quote
collection quite some time ago:
Those who do not understand LISP are condemned to not even being able
to reinvent it poorly. -- Far�, without apologies to Henry Spencer.
It is of course a reference to the fortune cookie:
Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
-- Henry Spencer
Which itself may be a reference to earlier quotes.
[ Fran�ois-Ren� �VB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ]
[ TUNES project for a Free Reflective Computing System | http://tunes.org ]
"To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to all of life's problems!"
-- Homer Simpson, quoted by H. Duray about Addiction to Government