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A convincing demonstration of correctness being impossible as long as the mechanism is regarded as a black box, our only hope lies in not regarding the mechanism as a black box.

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
Hope
Demonstration
Black
Convincing
Long
Regarded
Mechanism
Boxes
Lies
Impossible
Correctness
Lying
Regarding

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We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people sometimes they follow it!
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The ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.
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The problems of the real world are primarily those you are left with when you refuse to apply their effective solutions.
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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.
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The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.
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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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Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
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FORTRAN, the infantile disorder, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to use.
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Production speed is severely slowed down if one works with half-time people who have other obligations as well. This is at least a factor of four probably it is worse.
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There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.
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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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There is very little point in trying to urge the world to mend its ways as long as that world is still convinced that its ways are perfectly adequate.
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Industry suffers from the managerial dogma that for the sake of stability and continuity, the company should be independent of the competence of individual employees.
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If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
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Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.
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The prisoner falls in love with his chains.
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The effort of using machines to mimic the human mind has always struck me as rather silly. I would rather use them to mimic something better.
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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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Probably I am very naive, but I also think I prefer to remain so, at least for the time being and perhaps for the rest of my life.
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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?
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