Abstraction is a form of data compression: absolutely necessary, because human short-term memory is so small, but the critically important aspect of abstraction is the algorithm that gets you from the name back to the "uncompressed" details. -- Bruce Wilder (blog post comment)

A CS professor once explained recursion as follows: A child couldn't sleep, so her mother told her a story about a little frog, who couldn't sleep, so the frog's mother told her a story about a little bear, who couldn't sleep, so the bear's mother told her a story about a little weasel... who fell asleep. ...and the little bear fell asleep; ...and the little frog fell asleep; ...and the child fell asleep. -- everything2.com

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. -- Goethe

The best way to learn to live with our limitations is to know them. --E. W. Dijkstra, The humble programmer

Students should be evaluated on how well they can achieve the goals they strived to achieve within a realistic context. Students need to learn to do things, not know things. -- Roger Schank, Engines for Education

We will never become a truly paper-less society until the Palm Pilot folks come out with WipeMe 1.0. -- Andy Pierson

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~Steve Jobs

Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being. –Kevin Kruse

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. ~Wayne Dyer