The Purpose Of Abstraction Is Not To

Lisp Has Jokingly Been Described As "the Most Intelligent Way To Misuse A Computer." I Think That Description Is A Great Compliment Because It Transmits The Full Flavour Of Liberation: It Has Assisted A Number Of Our Most Gifted Fellow Humans In Thinking Previously Impossible Thoughts.

So-called "natural Language" Is Wonderful For The Purposes It Was Created For, Such As To Be Rude In, To Tell Jokes In, To Cheat Or To Make Love In (and Theorists Of Literary Criticism Can Even Be Content-free In It), But It Is Hopelessly Inadequate When We Have To Deal Unambiguously With Situations Of Great Intricacy, Situations Which Unavoidably Arise In Such Activities As Legislation, Arbitration, Mathematics Or Programming.

Raise Your Quality Standards As High As You Can Live With, Avoid Wasting Your Time On Routine Problems, And Always Try To Work As Closely As Possible At The Boundary Of Your Abilities. Do This, Because It Is The Only Way Of Discovering How That Boundary Should Be Moved Forward.

A Most Important, But Also Most Elusive, Aspect Of Any Tool Is Its Influence On The Habits Of Those Who Train Themselves In Its Use. If The Tool Is A Programming Language This Influence Is, Whether We Like It Or Not, An Influence On Our Thinking Habits.... A Programming Language Is A Tool That Has Profound Influence On Our Thinking Habits.

Brainpower Is By Far Our Scarcest Resource.