Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra; 11 May 1930 – 6 August 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist. A theoretical physicist by training, he worked as a programmer at the Mathematisch Centrumfrom 1952 to 1962. He was a professor of mathematics at the Eindhoven University of Technologyand a research fellow at the Burroughs Corporation. He held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin from 1984 until 1999, and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1999...
Edsger Dijkstra quotes about
boring mathematics should
There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.
hard-work discipline simplicity
Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because they require hard work and discipline to achieve and education to be appreciated.
science technology telescopes
Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
teaching cobol criminals
Teaching COBOL ought to be regarded as a criminal act.
congratulations luxury success-and-failure
Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
confused challenges scientist
The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making.
oneself
Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.
exercise giving long
I now have had my foggy crystal ball for quite a long time. Its predictions are invariably gloomy and usually correct, but I am quite used to that and they won't keep me from giving you a few suggestions, even if it is merely an exercise in futility whose only effect is to make you feel guilty.
funny-inspirational debugging bugs
If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
believe fall simple
Please don't fall into the trap of believing that I am terribly dogmatical about [the goto statement]. I have the uncomfortable feeling that others are making a religion out of it, as if the conceptual problems of programming could be solved by a single trick, by a simple form of coding discipline!
simplicity purpose levels
The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.
bugs absence program
Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
learning mastery tongue
Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.
branches mathematics programming
Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.