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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.

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
Effective
Refuse
Solutions
Problems
Left
Problem
Real
Primarily
World
Apply

More quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

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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 prisoner falls in love with his chains.
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The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making.
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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
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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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It is a mistake to think that programmers wares are programs. Programmers have to produce trustworthy solutions and present it in the form of cogent arguments. Programs source code is just the accompanying material to which these arguments are to be applied to.
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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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If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.
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Teaching COBOL ought to be regarded as a criminal act.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Beauty is our business.
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Experience does by no means automatically leads to wisdom and understanding.
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Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration.
Edsger Dijkstra