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Quote by Edsger Dijkstra

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Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective

This volume brings together a selection of writings that offer a personal viewpoint on computing. The author discusses foundational ideas, evolving practices, and significant milestones in computer science, drawing on their own experiences and observations. The essays explore topics such as programming, system design, and the broader impact of computing, providing insight into the author's intellectual journey and contributions to the discipline. more

Author

Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Dijkstra

Edsger Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist known for his contributions to algorithms and programming language design. His work in graph theory, algorithm analysis, and formal methods had a profound impact on the field of computer science. more

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“The only way I have ever understood, broken free, emerged, healed, forgiven, flourished, and grown powerful is by asking the hardest questions and then living into the answers through opening up to my own terror and transmuting it into creativity. I have gotten nowhere by retreating into hand-me-down sureties or resisting the tensions that truth ignited.”

“Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. ... When you resume thinking, it will be fresh and creative.”

“To grasp organizational life as it is, read novels (!) .... It is my fervent belief that we will never design rational processes that "overcome" such irregularities-don't bother telling that to a consultant. Hence, we should embrace the real, nonrational, nonlinear world with vigor and glee-and develop enterprise and career strategies accordingly.”

“If you think of the universe as a vast electrical sea in which you are immersed and from which you are formed, opening to your creativity changes you from something bobbing in that sea to a more fully functioning, more conscious, more cooperative part of that ecosystem.”

“What tender and devoted mother wouldn't be dismayed and ill with terror at her son's or daughter's stepping even one hair's breath off the beaten track. No, better let him be happy and live in comfort without originality, is what every mother thinks when she rocks the cradle. The only person among us who can fail to reach the general's rank is the original man - in other words, the man who won't be quiet.”