If 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your… — Edsger Dijkstra Dirty 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 Capacity 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 Behind you 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 Clever 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 Code Copy Share Image
Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding. — Edsger Dijkstra Doe Copy Share Image
Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because… — Edsger Dijkstra Compliment 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 Argument 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 Advertising 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
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 Challenges 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 Careful Copy Share Image
Computer science has as much to do with computers as astronomy has to do with telescopes. — Edsger Dijkstra Astronomy Copy Share Image
The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely… — Edsger Dijkstra Abstraction 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 Aspect 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
A most important, but also most elusive, aspect of any tool is its influence on the habits of those who train themselves… — Edsger Dijkstra Aspect Copy Share Image
Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated. — Edsger Dijkstra Achieve 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 Appreciation Copy Share Image
Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians. — Edsger Dijkstra Branches 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
