James H. Wilkinson

1919–1986 · English mathematician

Topics: programming, software engineering, creativity

• He [Turing] was particularly fond of little programming tricks (some people would say that he was too fond of them to be a "good" programmer) and would chuckle with boyish good humor at any little tricks I may have used.

  — James H. Wilkinson

• Turing had a strong predeliction for working things out from first principles, usually in the first instance without consulting any previous work on the subject, and no doubt it was this habit which gave his work that characteristically original flavor.

  — James H. Wilkinson

• Of course everything in computerology is new; that is at once its attraction, and its weakness. Only recently I learned that computers are revolutionizing astrology. Horoscopes by computer!

  — James H. Wilkinson