When building sand castles on the beach, we can ignore the waves but should watch the tide. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense. — 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
Industry suffers from the managerial dogma that for the sake of stability and continuity, the company should be independent of the competence… — 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
I think of the company advertising "Thought Processors" or the college pretending that learning BASIC suffices or at least helps, whereas the… — 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
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
