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Quotes About Compilers

A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.
~ Edward Gibbon
If the Lord wishes to use editors and compilers to bring His message to us, that is His decision. And so He has decided. The truth of 2 Peter 1:20, 21 still stands: Scripture has come to us by the Holy Spirit, whether it be through revelation or research, secretary or scribe, editor or compiler – or by large letters written by Paul's own hand. Any way you write it, it is still God's Word.
~ Alden Thompson
I typed my whole syntax table into memory. I said, "I'll just follow along in memory and, if what he types fits the syntax table, then whenever he hits return, I know all the elements he typed in." I just output a list of little tokens that represented what had been typed in, if it matched the table. This was just an idea I had, not knowing how other people did it. I don't know to this day how compilers are written.
~ Jessica Livingston
It is observed that "a corrupt society has many laws;" I know not whether it is not equally true, that "an ignorant age has many books." When the treasures of ancient knowledge lie unexamined, and original authors are neglected and forgotten, compilers and plagiaries are encouraged, who give us again what we had before, and grow great by setting before us what our own sloth had hidden from our view.
~ Samuel Johnson
First, I'd like to see the basic tools such as compilers, debuggers, profilers, database interfaces, GUI builders, CAD tools, and so forth fully support the ISO standard.
~ Bjarne Stroustrup
Closely related are the entries in his bestiary, a compendium of short tales of animals and moral lessons based on their traits. Bestiaries were popular among the ancients and in the Middle Ages, and the spread of printing presses meant that many were reprinted in Italy beginning in the 1470s. Leonardo had a copy of the bestiary written by Pliny the Elder and three others by medieval compilers.
~ Walter Isaacson
If you don't know how compilers work, then you don't know how computers work.
~ Unknown
Java the language is almost irrelevant. It's the design of the Java Virtual Machine. And I've seen compilers for ML, compilers for Scheme, compilers for Ada, and they all work. Not many people use them, but it doesn't matter: they all work.
~ James Gosling