Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration. — Edsger Dijkstra Hope Copy Share Image
Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning. — Edsger Dijkstra Learning Copy Share Image
A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits. — Edsger Dijkstra Computer programming Copy Share Image
Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure. — Edsger Dijkstra Beauty Copy Share Image
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. — Edsger Dijkstra Astronomy Copy Share Image
Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well. — Edsger Dijkstra Goodness Copy Share Image
The problems of the real world are primarily those you are left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions. — Edsger Dijkstra Copy Share Image
Too few people recognize that the high technology so celebrated today is essentially a mathematical technology. — Edsger Dijkstra High technology Copy Share Image
There is very little point in trying to urge the world to mend its ways as long as that world is still… — 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 Business Copy Share Image
Several people have told me that my inability to suffer fools gladly is one of my main weaknesses. — Edsger Dijkstra Fool Copy Share Image
The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making. — Edsger Dijkstra Challenges 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
If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in… — Edsger Dijkstra Discovery 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 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
When we had no computers, we had no programming problem either. When we had a few computers, we had a mild programming… — Edsger Dijkstra Computer 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 Copy Share Image
The use of anthropomorphic terminology forces you linguistically to adopt an operational view. And it makes it practically impossible to argue about… — 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
How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call elegance - are not a… — Edsger Dijkstra Beauty 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 Exposure Copy Share Image
I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist. — Edsger Dijkstra Computer 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
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 Bugs 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 Abstraction 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 Computers 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 Assumption Copy Share Image
Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely… — Edsger Dijkstra Education Copy Share Image
Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons. — 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 Computer 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
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
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
If you want more effective programmers, you will discover that they should not waste their time debugging, they should not introduce the… — Edsger Dijkstra Bugs 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… — 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
