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

More quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

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The use of COBOL cripples the mind its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
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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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Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
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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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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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I don't need to waste my time with a computer just because I am a computer scientist.
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Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, biology is about microscopes or chemistry is about beakers and test tubes. Science is not about tools. It is about how we use them, and what we find out when we do.
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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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If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.
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The ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.
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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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When we had no computers, we had no programming problem either. When we had a few computers, we had a mild programming problem. Confronted with machines a million times as powerful, we are faced with a gigantic programming problem.
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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
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
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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.
Edsger Dijkstra
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger Dijkstra
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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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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
Edsger Dijkstra
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Beauty is our business.
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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?
Edsger Dijkstra