Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra Quotes

We can found no scientific discipline, nor a hearty profession, on the technical mistakes of the Department of Defense and, mainly, one computer manufacturer.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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FORTRAN, 'the infantile disorder', by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to...

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975

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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

How do we tell truths that might hurt? - 1975.

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The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

The Humble Programmer - 1972 Turing Award Lecture - Communications of the ACM.

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Program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of bugs, but it is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

The Humble Programmer - 1972 Turing Award Lecture - Communications of the ACM.

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If you want more effective programmers, you will discover that they should not waste their time debugging, they should not introduce the bugs to start with.

Edsgar Wybe Dijkstra

The Humble Programmer - 1972 Turing Award Lecture - Communications of the ACM.

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