Edsger Dijkstra Quotes - Page 2

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• Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Learning, Mastery, Tongue

  Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). “Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective”, p.130, Springer Science & Business Media

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• Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, biology is about microscopes or chemistry is about beakers and test tubes. Science is not about tools. It is about how we use them, and what we find out when we do.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Tools, Use, Telescopes

  "SIGACT trying to get children excited about CS" by Michael R. Fellows, Computing Research News, archive.cra.org. January, 1993.

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• If we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as "lines produced" but as "lines spent."

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Learning, Wish, Lines

  "On the cruelty of really teaching computing science" by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.utexas.edu. December 2, 1988.

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• The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Challenges, World, Source

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• Are you quite sure that all those bells and whistles, all those wonderful facilities of your so called powerful programming languages, belong to the solution set rather than the problem set?

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Powerful, Code Quality, Bells

  Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1976). “A Discipline of Programming”, Prentice Hall

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• How 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 decides between success and failure?

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Luxury, People, Simplicity

  Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). “Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective”, p.347, Springer Science & Business Media

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• Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Mean, Understanding, Doe

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• Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Competition, Weapons, Chosen

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• … what society overwhelmingly asks for is snake oil. Of course, the snake oil has the most impressive names — otherwise you would be selling nothing — like “Structured Analysis and Design”, “Software Engineering”, “Maturity Models”, “Management Information Systems”, “Integrated Project Support Environments” “Object Orientation” and “Business Process Re-engineering”.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Maturity, Engineering, Snakes

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• It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Giving, Tasks, Needs

  "Answers to questions from students of Software Engineering" by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.utexas.edu. November 28, 2000.

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• Brainpower is by far our scarcest resource.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Resources

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• Don'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 trap of rejecting a surgical technique because it is beyond the capabilities of the barber in his shop around the corner.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Fall, Views, Average

  Edsger W. Dijkstra (2012). “Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective”, p.163, Springer Science & Business Media

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• Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Jargon, Aim, Brevity

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• The prisoner falls in love with his chains.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Falling In Love, Fall, Chains

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• The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Confused, Challenges, Scientist

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• We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people; sometimes they follow it!

  Edsger Dijkstra

  People, Giving, Advice

  "The Humble Programmer". Edsger Dijkstra's ACM Turing Award lecture, "Communications of the ACM", Volume 15, No. 10, www.cs.utexas.edu. October 1972.

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• In the wake of the Cultural Revolution and now of the recession I observe a mounting pressure to co-operate and to promote "teamwork." For its anti-individualistic streak, such a drive is of course highly suspect; some people may not be so sensitive to it, but having seen the Hitlerjugend in action suffices for the rest of your life to be very wary of "team spirit." Very.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Teamwork, People, May

  "The strengths of the academic enterprise" by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.utexas.edu. February 9, 1994.

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• The required techniques of effective reasoning are pretty formal, but as long as programming is done by people that don't master them, the software crisis will remain with us and will be considered an incurable disease. And you know what incurable diseases do: they invite the quacks and charlatans in, who in this case take the form of Software Engineering gurus.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Engineering, Long, People

  "Answers to questions from students of Software Engineering" by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.utexas.edu. November 28, 2000.

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• When we had no computers, we had no programming problem either. When we had a few computers, we had a mild programming problem. Confronted with machines a million times as powerful, we are faced with a gigantic programming problem.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Powerful, Machines, Computer

  "Visuals for BP's Venture Research Conference" by Edsger Dijkstra, www.cs.utexas.edu. June 5, 1986.

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• Thanks to the greatly improved possibility of communication, we overrate its importance. Even stronger, we underrate the importance of isolation.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Communication, Stronger, Thanks

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• When building sand castles on the beach, we can ignore the waves but should watch the tide.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Beach, Castles, Watches

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• ...Simplifications have had a much greater long-range scientific impact than individual feats of ingenuity. The opportunity for simplification is very encouraging, because in all examples that come to mind the simple and elegant systems tend to be easier and faster to design and get right, more efficient in execution, and much more reliable than the more contrived contraptions that have to be debugged into some degree of acceptability....Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Hard Work, Opportunity, Simple

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• If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Writing, Discovery, Mind

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• I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Needs, Waste, Computer

  "Answers to questions from students of Software Engineering". www.cs.utexas.edu. November 28, 2000.

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• It is a mistake to think that programmers wares are programs. Programmers have to produce trustworthy solutions and present it in the form of cogent arguments. Programs source code is just the accompanying material to which these arguments are to be applied to.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Mistake, Thinking, Argument

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