Foreword from the Wizard Book:
This book is dedicated, in respect and admiration, to the
spirit that lives in the computer.
"I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in
computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out,
it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers
got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to
take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we
really were responsible for the successful, error-free
perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think
we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in
new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the
field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above
all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if
you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those
already. What you know about computing other people will
learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is
only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope,
is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more
than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it
more."
-Alan J. Perlis (April 1, 1922-February 7, 1990)
"The whole problem with the world
is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves,
but wiser people so full of doubts."
"He whose reflective pure spirit sinks into Atman
Knows bliss inexpressible through words"
-Herman Hesse, Siddhartha
"You don't need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Don't even listen, simply wait.
Don't even wait.
Be quite still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you.
To be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet."