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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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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
Intellectual
Computers
Mankind
Tool
Challenges
Cultural
History
Surface
Culture
Challenge
Without
Tools
Computer
Ripple
Capacity
Precedent

More quotes by Edsger Dijkstra

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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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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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Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
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Thank goodness we don't have only serious problems, but ridiculous ones as well.
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There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.
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Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
Edsger Dijkstra
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I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable concept. But excellence is a competitive notion, and that is not what we are heading for: we are heading for perfection.
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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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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 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.
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.
Edsger Dijkstra
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APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.
Edsger Dijkstra
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We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people sometimes they follow it!
Edsger Dijkstra
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Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
Edsger Dijkstra
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Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs.
Edsger Dijkstra
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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.
Edsger Dijkstra
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Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration.
Edsger Dijkstra
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The use of COBOL cripples the mind its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
Edsger Dijkstra
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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.
Edsger Dijkstra