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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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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
Habit
Proud
Without
Writing
Mind
Publication
Scientific
Discovery

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Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.
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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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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.
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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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Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
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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 prerequisite for reliability.
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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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The prisoner falls in love with his chains.
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I think of the company advertising Thought Processors or the college pretending that learning BASIC suffices or at least helps, whereas the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.
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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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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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PL/1, the fatal disease, belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set.
Edsger Dijkstra
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We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people sometimes they follow it!
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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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Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
Edsger Dijkstra
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There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.
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The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.
Edsger Dijkstra