Ken Thompson

Computer Science American 1943 330 quotes

Co-creator of the Unix operating system and the Go programming language.

Quotes by Ken Thompson

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of ideas.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of elegance.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of clarity.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of modularity.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of composition.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of abstraction.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of generalization.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of minimalism.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

The UNIX system is a testament to the power of open-mindedness.

The UNIX Time-Sharing System (Bell System Technical Journal) 1978

SCCS, the source code control system, is the only psychiatrist capable of treating the multiple personality disorder of which modern software developers are all afflicted.

Paper 1979

The use of Fortran cripples the mind; its teaching should therefore be criminalized.

Interview 1972

Any technology indistinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

Speech

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Turing Award Lecture 1983

In computing, the mean time to failure keeps getting shorter.

Interview 1990

The hardest thing about software is what should not be in it.

Paper on Unix 1978

Tools grow by accretion; each new tool builds on the ones before it.

Unix Manual 1974

One small step for a programmer, one giant leap for bugkind.

Witty Remark 1969

Code is like humor. When you have to explain it, it’s bad.

Conference Talk 2000

The best programs are written so that computing machines can perform them quickly.

Book Excerpt 1975

Unix is simple and coherent, but it takes a genius to understand it.

Interview 1980