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... as a slow-witted human being I have a very small head and I had better learn to live with it and to respect my limitations and give them full credit, rather than to try to ignore them, for the latter vain effort will be punished by failure.

Edsger Dijkstra

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Edsger Dijkstra
Age: 72 †
Born: 1930
Born: May 11
Died: 2002
Died: August 5
Computer Scientist
Engineer
Mathematician
Physicist
Scientist
University Teacher
R'dam
Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Dijkstra
EWD
E.W. Dijkstra
Learn
Failure
Limitations
Give
Design
Ignore
Better
Respect
Software
Live
Full
Limitation
Human
Head
Latter
Humans
Effort
Slow
Giving
Small
Vain
Witted
Trying
Rather
Credit
Punished

More quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
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Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding.
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It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs.
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Beauty is our business.
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Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.
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I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable concept. But excellence is a competitive notion, and that is not what we are heading for: we are heading for perfection.
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
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I mean, 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.
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I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist.
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LISP 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 liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
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Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.
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Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
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A 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 influence is, whether we like it or not, an influence on our thinking habits.... A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits.
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Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
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Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs.
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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.
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In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of mankind.
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Simplicity 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.
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The use of anthropomorphic terminology forces you linguistically to adopt an operational view. And it makes it practically impossible to argue about programs independently of their being executed.
Edsger Dijkstra