We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people: sometimes they follow it! — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence! — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Beware of "the real world". A speaker's apeal to it is always an invitation not to challenge his tacit assumptions. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The effort of using machines to mimic the human mind has always struck me as rather silly. I would rather use them… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Don't blame me for the fact that competent programming, as I view it as an intellectual possibility, will be too difficult for… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
It is a mistake to think that programmers wares are programs. Programmers have to produce trustworthy solutions and present it in the… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
John von Neumann draws attention to what seemed to him a contrast. He remarked that for simple mechanisms, it is often easier… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
FORTRAN, the infantile disorder, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today:… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
A most important, but also most elusive, aspect of any tool is its influence on the habits of those who train themselves… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
When we had no computers, we had no programming problem either. When we had a few computers, we had a mild programming… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call elegance - are not a… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
So-called "natural language" is wonderful for the purposes it was created for, such as to be rude in, to tell jokes in,… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Yes, I share your concern: how to program well -though a teachable topic- is hardly taught. The situation is similar to that… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
… what society overwhelmingly asks for is snake oil. Of course, the snake oil has the most impressive names — otherwise you… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
In this respect a program is like a poem: you cannot write a poem without writing it. Yet people talk about programming… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
...our intellectual powers are rather geared to master static relations and that our powers to visualize processes evolving in time are relatively… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past:… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility,… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
If we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as 'lines produced' but as 'lines spent.' — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
In the software business there are many enterprises for which it is not clear that science can help them; that science should… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
If you want more effective programmers, you will discover that they should not waste their time debugging, they should not introduce the… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
It used to be the program's purpose to instruct our computers; it became the computer's purpose to execute our programs. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
When we take the position that it is not only the programmer's responsibility to produce a correct program but also to demonstrate… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty,… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Production speed is severely slowed down if one works with half-time people who have other obligations as well. This is at least a factor… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Probably I am very naive, but I also think I prefer to remain so, at least for the time being and perhaps for the… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
The use of anthropomorphic terminology forces you linguistically to adopt an operational view. And it makes it practically impossible to argue about programs independently… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Please don't fall into the trap of believing that I am terribly dogmatical about [the goto statement]. I have the uncomfortable feeling that others… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
Several people have told me that my inability to suffer fools gladly is one of my main weaknesses. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
I now have had my foggy crystal ball for quite a long time. Its predictions are invariably gloomy and usually correct, but I am… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
In this respect a program is like a poem: you cannot write a poem without writing it. Yet people talk about programming as if… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share
