Edsger DijkstraPerfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.371Time
Edsger DijkstraSimplicity is prerequisite for reliability. ✨ How do we tell truths that might hurt? by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.virginia.edu. June 18, 1975.372Truth
Edsger DijkstraI don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist. ✨ Answers to questions from students of Software Engineering. www.cs.utexas.edu. Novemb… ▶363Time
Edsger DijkstraLISP has jokingly been described as the most intelligent way to misuse a computer. I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavour of liberati… ▶342HumanityThought
Edsger DijkstraJohn von Neumann draws attention to what seemed to him a contrast. He remarked that for simple mechanisms, it is often easier to describe how they work than what they do, while fo… ▶364Philosophy
Edsger DijkstraThe lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.353Reading
Edsger DijkstraBesides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer. ✨ Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). Sele… ▶321Politics
Edsger DijkstraThe ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.354Politics
Edsger DijkstraWhy has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage, if that's what it is, that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good educa… ▶322SadnessTruth
Edsger DijkstraWe shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant p… ▶355HumanityThought
Edsger DijkstraIf we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as lines produced but as lines spent. ✨ On the cruelty of really teaching computing science by Edsger Dijkstra, … ▶334Hope
Edsger DijkstraThe use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense. ✨ How do we tell truths that might hurt? by Edsger Dijkstra, June 18, … ▶335ThoughtTruth
Edsger DijkstraDon't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons.292Life
Edsger DijkstraElegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.303Truth
Edsger DijkstraPlease don't fall into the trap of believing that I am terribly dogmatical about the go to statement. I have the uncomfortable feeling that others are making a religion out of it,… ▶358Politics
Edsger DijkstraComputer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.3510Thought
Edsger DijkstraA most important, but also most elusive, aspect of any tool is its influence on the habits of those who train themselves in its use. If the tool is a programming language this inf… ▶272Thought
Edsger DijkstraIn the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share each other's programs, bugs included. 251Reflection
Edsger DijkstraProgress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.296Thought
Edsger DijkstraIf debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.233Time
Edsger DijkstraIf you want more effective programmers, you will discover that they should not waste their time debugging, they should not introduce the bugs to start with. ✨ The Humble Pro… ▶288Time
Edsger DijkstraProgram testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence! ✨ Notes On Structured Programming by Edsger Dijkstra, April 1970.277Politics
Edsger DijkstraSimplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated.222Life
Edsger DijkstraDon't blame me for the fact that competent programming, as I view it as an intellectual possibility, will be too difficult for the average programmer, you must not fall into the t… ▶268Truth
Edsger DijkstraThe tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities. ✨ Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). Selected Writings on Com… ▶268Thought
Edsger DijkstraThe competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avo… ▶268Philosophy
Edsger DijkstraThere should be no such thing as boring mathematics.192Death
Edsger DijkstraMany mathematicians derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a long tradition of rational thinking; I am afraid they idealize their cultural ances… ▶236Thought
Edsger DijkstraHow do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call elegance - are not a dispensable luxury, but a crucial matter that decide… ▶215Humanity
Edsger DijkstraSimplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. ✨ On the nature of C… ▶237Hope
