“I think of the company advertising "Thought Processors" or the college pretending that learning BASIC suffices or at least helps, whereas the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.” ThinkingShouldMindHelpingCompanyTeachingCollegeCriminalsRecoveryAdvertisingPretendingOffenceProcessors Author:Edsger Dijkstra
“...Simplifications have had a much greater long-range scientific impact than individual feats of ingenuity. The opportunity for simplification is very encouraging, because in all examples that come to mind the simple and elegant systems tend to be easier and faster to design and get right, more efficient in execution, and much more reliable than the more contrived contraptions that have to be debugged into some degree of acceptability....Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated.” MindLongHardOpportunityIndividualSimpleGreaterAchieveExampleDesignHard WorkDisciplineEasierDegreesImpactSimplicityFasterRangeEfficientExecutionElegantAppreciatedEleganceIngenuityFeatsSimplificationSimplicity And Elegance Author:Edsger Dijkstra
“If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.” IfsWritingMindProudHabitDiscoveryPublicationScientific Discovery Author:Edsger Dijkstra
“The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.” ShouldMindUseTechnologyTeachingComputerHumorousWittyCriminalsProgrammingOffenseProgrammersComputer ProgrammingComputer ScienceProgramming LanguagesComputer LanguageCripplesComputer ProgrammersProgramming FunnyComputer HackingCobol Author:Edsger Dijkstra
“We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers.” MindHumansJobsLanguageApproachTasksDifficultySticksAppreciationHumbleLimitationProgrammingHuman MindModestElegantProgrammersProgramming Languages Author:Edsger Dijkstra
“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 use.” YearsMindUseTodayComputerExpensiveProgrammingDisorderApplicationInadequateProgramming LanguagesClumsyComputer LanguageInfantile Book:Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective Source: Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective
“The effort of using machines to mimic the human mind has always struck me as rather silly. I would rather use them to mimic something better.” MindHumansUseEffortMachinesSillyProgrammingHuman MindSomething Better Author:Edsger Dijkstra
