Dutch - Scientist | May 11, 1930 - August 6, 2002
Why 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 education to appreciate it.
Edsger Dijkstra
WorkHard WorkEducationGoodWhy
Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.
BadCaliforniaProgrammingBad Idea
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
MindOffenseTeachingCriminalUse
The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.
ChallengesWorldSourceSomething
About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
ImpossibleLanguageTryPencilAxe
Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
NeverPresenceTestingUsedAbsence
APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.
FuturePastPerfectionMistakeNew
If 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself: 'Dijkstra would not have liked this', well that would be enough immortality for me.
YourselfI AmMeLookingDoingYou
The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility, and avoids clever tricks like the plague.
HumilityCleverSizeTaskSkullOwn
Many 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 ancestors.
I AmProudThinkingTraditionLong
Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding.
LifeTeachingBecauseUseEffective
Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons.
ExperienceMeMoreCompeteChosen
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