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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.

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
Really
Excitement
Work
Much

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The art of programming is the art of organizing complexity.
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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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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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We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people sometimes they follow it!
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A convincing demonstration of correctness being impossible as long as the mechanism is regarded as a black box, our only hope lies in not regarding the mechanism as a black box.
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Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
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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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Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
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Mentally mutilated potential programmers beyond hope of regeneration.
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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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Beauty is our business.
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Too few people recognize that the high technology so celebrated today is essentially a mathematical technology.
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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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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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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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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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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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Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
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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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Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
Edsger Dijkstra