I would therefore like to posit that computing's central challenge, how not to make a mess of it, has not yet been… — Edsger Dijkstra Challenge 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 Ability 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 Computer Copy Share Image
A convincing demonstration of correctness being impossible as long as the mechanism is regarded as a black box, our only hope lies… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges. — Edsger Dijkstra Challenges Copy Share Image
[Though computer science is a fairly new discipline, it is predominantly based on the Cartesian world view. As Edsgar W. Dijkstra has… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
We are all shaped by the tools we use, in particular: the formalisms we use shape our thinking habits, for better or… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Why has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage, if that's what it is,… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Some consider the puzzles that are created by their omissions as spicy challenges, without which their texts would be boring; others shun… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
If in physics there's something you don't understand, you can always hide behind the uncharted depths of nature. You can always blame… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
... as a slow-witted human being I have a very small head and I had better learn to live with it and… — Edsger Dijkstra Credit Copy Share Image
The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in… — Edsger Dijkstra Approach Copy Share Image
Write a paper promising salvation, make it a structured something or a virtual something, or abstract, distributed or higher-order or applicative and… — Edsger Dijkstra Abstract Copy Share Image
The students that, like the wild animal being prepared for its tricks in the circus called 'life', expects only training as sketched… — Edsger Dijkstra Circus Copy Share Image
I now have had my foggy crystal ball for quite a long time. Its predictions are invariably gloomy and usually correct, but… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The required techniques of effective reasoning are pretty formal, but as long as programming is done by people that don't master them,… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, biology is about microscopes or chemistry is about beakers and… — Edsger Dijkstra Astronomy Copy Share Image
Are you quite sure that all those bells and whistles, all those wonderful facilities of your so called powerful programming languages, belong… — Edsger Dijkstra Bells Copy Share Image
In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
If 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
In passing I draw attention to another English expression which often occurs in Dutch texts: "the real world". In Dutch - and… — Edsger Dijkstra Attention Copy Share Image
I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable concept. But excellence is a competitive notion, and that… — Edsger Dijkstra Competitive Copy Share Image
Please don't fall into the trap of believing that I am terribly dogmatical about [the goto statement]. I have the uncomfortable feeling… — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
![“[Though computer science is a fairly new discipline, it is predominantly based on the Cartesian world view. As Edsgar W. Dijkstra has pointed out] A scientific discipline emerges with the - usually rather slow! - discovery of which aspects can be meaningfully 'studied' in isolation for the sake of…” quote by Edsger Dijkstra](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/22a/edsger-dijkstra-5102_aspect_though-computer-science-is-a-fairly-new_1280947.png)
![“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 are making a religion out of it, as if the conceptual problems of programming could be solved by a single trick, by a simple form of coding discipline!” quote by Edsger Dijkstra](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/6ad/edsger-dijkstra-5102_believe_please-don-t-fall-into-the-trap-of-belie_167695.png)