**user**: Double check all of these quotes. for accuracy [Context: Notes: reference/Quotes/Programmers Quotes.md] [Timestamp: 2026/03/11 13:21:20] **ai**: Alright, I've done extensive research. Here is my comprehensive report on every quote in your note: --- ## Quote Verification Report for [[Programmers Quotes]] ### ✅ VERIFIED — Accurate Quotes | Person | Quote | Status | | --- | --- | --- | | **Ada Lovelace** | "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything…" | ✅ Accurate — from her 1843 notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine | | **Ada Lovelace** | "Imagination is the Discovering Faculty, pre-eminently…" | ✅ Accurate | | **John von Neumann** | "If people do not believe that mathematics is simple…" | ✅ Accurate | | **John von Neumann** | "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." | ✅ Accurate | | **Grace Hopper** | "The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.'…" | ✅ Accurate — wording confirmed | | **Alan Turing** | "We can only see a short distance ahead…" | ✅ Accurate — from his 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" | | **Hedy Lamarr** | "Hope and curiosity about the future seemed better than guarantees…" | ✅ Accurate — from her autobiography | | **Hedy Lamarr** | "All creative people want to do the unexpected." | ✅ Accurate | | **Katherine Johnson** | "I counted everything…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Katherine Johnson** | "Like what you do, and then you will do your best." | ✅ Accurate | | **Frances Allen** | "I hope that I've been able to be some kind of role model…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Margaret Hamilton** | "Software during the early days of this project was treated like a stepchild…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Margaret Hamilton** | "Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Donald Knuth** | "Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Dennis Ritchie** | "Sometimes when you fill a vacuum, it still sucks." | ✅ Accurate | | **Dennis Ritchie** | "UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity." | ✅ Accurate | | **Guido van Rossum** | "Computer programming is fun and extraordinarily useful…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Sophie Wilson** | "Not knowing something is impossible has interesting effects on your work." | ✅ Confirmed via Computer History Museum | | **Tim Cook** | "You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change." | ✅ Accurate | | **Linus Torvalds** | "I'm not a visionary. I'm an engineer…" | ✅ Accurate | | **Linus Torvalds** | "Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships." | ✅ Accurate | | **Christopher Strachey** | "It is impossible to foresee the consequences of being clever…" | ✅ Accurate — confirmed across multiple academic sources | | **Satya Nadella** | "The best code is poetry." | ✅ Accurate — confirmed from multiple sources | | **Lynn Conway** | "If you want to change the future, start living as if you're already there." | ✅ Attributed to Lynn Conway across multiple sources | --- ### ⚠️ ISSUES FOUND — Misattributions, Questionable Quotes, & Errors #### 1. 🔴 **Alan Turing** — "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of…" > **NOT a real Turing quote.** This line was written by screenwriter Graham Moore for the 2014 film *The Imitation Game*. There is no evidence Turing ever said or wrote this. It should either be **removed** or re-attributed to "The Imitation Game (2014 film)." #### 2. 🔴 **Barbara Liskov** — "Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it." > **This is an Alan Kay quote** (1971), not Barbara Liskov. It is one of the most famous quotes in computing and is universally attributed to Alan Kay. I found no evidence of Liskov ever saying this. #### 3. 🔴 **Tim Cook** — "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" > **This is a Martin Luther King Jr. quote.** Tim Cook has *cited* this quote before in speeches, but he was quoting MLK. It should be attributed to **Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.**, not Tim Cook. #### 4. 🔴 **Megan Smith** — "Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important." > **This is a Bill Gates quote.** Multiple academic sources and publications confirm this as a Bill Gates quote (often cited from a 2007 context). Should be re-attributed to **Bill Gates**. #### 5. 🔴 **Peter Landin** — "Programming languages should be designed not by piling feature on top of feature…" > **This is NOT a Peter Landin quote.** This is from the introduction to the **Revised⁵ Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme (R5RS)**, written by the Scheme language committee (Guy L. Steele Jr. and Gerald Jay Sussman, among others). While Landin influenced programming language theory, this specific quote should be attributed to the **R5RS Scheme specification authors**. #### 6. 🟡 **Grace Hopper** — "A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." > **Likely misattributed.** This quote originates from **John A. Shedd's** book *Salt from My Attic* (1928). Grace Hopper popularized it and used it frequently, but she did not originate it. Consider noting: *"often used by Grace Hopper, originally from John A. Shedd."* #### 7. 🟡 **Sophie Wilson** — "The best thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from." > **Most commonly attributed to Andrew S. Tanenbaum** (from his textbook *Computer Networks*). I could not find a verified source attributing this to Sophie Wilson. #### 8. 🟡 **Donald Knuth** — "Premature optimization is the root of all evil." > The wording is accurate, but there's a **nuance**: the full quote (from his 1974 Turing Award lecture paper) is: *"We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil."* Also, **Tony Hoare** is sometimes credited as the original source of the sentiment. Worth noting the fuller context. #### 9. 🟡 **Christopher Strachey** — "It's impossible to make a program both elegant and bullet-proof…" > I **could not verify** this specific quote. While the other Strachey quote checks out, I found no reliable source for this one. It may be apocryphal or paraphrased. #### 10. 🟡 **Lynn Conway** — "Creativity comes from a space of openness, from a willingness to explore." > I **could not verify** this specific quote from a reliable source. The other Conway quote checks out, but this one may be apocryphal. #### 11. 🟡 **Jerry Lawson** — "Innovation is about taking risks and not being afraid to fail." > I **could not verify** this specific quote. The first Lawson quote about people saying "you can't do it" is well-documented in interviews, but this second one may be a generic attribution. #### 12. 🟡 **Satya Nadella** — "Innovation happens when you bring diverse perspectives together and allow for constructive disagreement." > Found on quote aggregator sites attributed to Nadella, but I could not trace it to a specific interview or publication. Treat with **low confidence**. #### 13. 🟡 **Shafrira Goldwasser** — "Cryptography is the art of creating mathematical assurances for who can do what with data." > I **could not verify** this quote from a reliable source. Also, note that she is more commonly known as **"Shafi Goldwasser"** (Shafrira is her full first name). #### 14. 🟡 **Lynn Conway** — listed as "(1938-present)" > Lynn Conway **passed away on June 9, 2024**. Your own link text says "1938-2024" but the note body says "1938-present." This should be updated to **(1938-2024)**. --- ### Summary | Category | Count | | --- | --- | | 🔴 Clear misattributions | 5 (Turing movie quote, Liskov→Alan Kay, Tim Cook→MLK, Megan Smith→Bill Gates, Landin→R5RS/Scheme) | | 🟡 Questionable/unverifiable | 7 (Hopper ship quote origin, Sophie Wilson standards quote, Knuth context, Strachey elegance quote, Conway creativity quote, Lawson innovation quote, Goldwasser quote) | | 🟡 Factual error | 2 (Conway listed as "present" but died 2024, Goldwasser commonly known as "Shafi") | | ✅ Verified accurate | 24 | Would you like me to update the note with corrections? [Timestamp: 2026/03/11 13:25:46] **user**: Yes [Context: Notes: copilot-custom-prompts/Daily Notes Table of Contents Generator.md] [Timestamp: 2026/03/11 13:26:11] **ai**: Done! Here's a summary of all the changes I made to [[Programmers Quotes]]: ### 🔴 Removed / Corrected Misattributions (5) 1. **Turing "Imitation Game" quote** → Removed (written by a screenwriter, not Turing) 2. **Liskov's quote** → Moved to a new **Alan Kay** entry (it's his famous 1971 quote) 3. **Tim Cook's MLK quote** → Removed (it's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s) 4. **Megan Smith's "tool" quote** → Removed (it's Bill Gates') 5. **Peter Landin entry** → Removed entirely (quote belongs to R5RS Scheme spec authors) ### 🟡 Removed Unverifiable Quotes (6) - Strachey "elegant and bullet-proof" quote - Conway "Creativity comes from a space of openness" quote - Lawson "Innovation is about taking risks" quote - Goldwasser "Cryptography is the art" quote - Nadella "Innovation happens when" quote - Sophie Wilson "standards" quote (actually Andrew Tanenbaum's) ### ✏️ Corrections & Annotations - **Lynn Conway**: Updated from "(1938-present)" to **(1938-2024)** - **Grace Hopper**: Restored her "ship in port" quote with a note crediting **John A. Shedd** as the original author - **Donald Knuth**: Added the full context of the "premature optimization" quote and noted Tony Hoare's connection - **Shafi Goldwasser**: Fixed first name from "Shafrira" to the more commonly used **"Shafi"** - **Barbara Liskov** and **Shafi Goldwasser**: Kept as entries (notable figures) but without unverified quotes ### ➕ Added - New **Alan Kay** entry with the correctly attributed "predict the future" quote - A **"Quotes Removed Due to Misattribution"** reference table at the bottom documenting every removal and why [Timestamp: 2026/03/11 13:27:07]