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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.

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
Least
Also
Time
Naive
Think
Prefer
Thinking
Remain
Life
Perhaps
Rest
Probably

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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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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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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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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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Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
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If in physics there's something you don't understand, you can always hide behind the uncharted depths of nature. You can always blame God. You didn't make it so complex yourself. But if your program doesn't work, there is no one to hide behind. You cannot hide behind an obstinate nature. If it doesn't work, you've messed up.
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Beauty is our business.
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Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
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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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The prisoner falls in love with his chains.
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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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Teaching COBOL ought to be regarded as a criminal act.
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The ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.
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John von Neumann draws attention to what seemed to him a contrast. He remarked that for simple mechanisms, it is often easier to describe how they work than what they do, while for more complicated mechanisms, it is usually the other way around.
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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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We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people sometimes they follow it!
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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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Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons.
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The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.
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