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Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.

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
Wells
Thank
Well
Ridiculous
Goodness
Ones
Problems
Serious
Problem

More quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

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It used to be the program's purpose to instruct our computers it became the computer's purpose to execute our programs.
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Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding.
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It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
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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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The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.
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The prisoner falls in love with his chains.
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Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding.
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
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Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs.
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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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... 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.
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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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It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs.
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Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
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Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration.
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Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.
Edsger Dijkstra
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Much of the excitement we get out of our work is that we don't really know what we are doing.
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Beauty is our business.
Edsger Dijkstra
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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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The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.
Edsger Dijkstra