"We are all shaped by the tools we……" — Edsger Dijkstra
"We are all shaped by the tools we use, in particular: the formalisms we use shape our thinking habits, for better or for worse, and that means that we have to be very careful in the choice of what we learn and teach, for unlearning is not really possible."
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Edsger Dijkstra
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73 Quotes by Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Dijkstra has 73 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
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Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
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If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
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Why has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage, if that's what…
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I mean, if 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I…
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
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Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great…
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The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can…
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Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable…
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In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so…
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The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.
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We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its…
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More All Quotes
This quote is filed under All Quotes,
one of 128,558 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally…
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No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our…
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The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all…
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The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes…
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Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of…
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We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and…
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I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is…
— Pietro Aretino
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We must all make peace so that we can all live in peace.
— Jean-Bertrand Aristide
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The spirit of Ubuntu, that once led Haiti to emerge as the first independent black nation in 1804, helped Venezuela,…
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As we all know, many people remain buried under tons of rubble and debris, waiting to be rescued. When we…
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Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life.
— Aristophanes
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A friend to all is a friend to none.
— Aristotle
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