Edsgar W. Dijkstra quote: "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. PL/I --'the fatal disease'-- belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set. 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. The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence. APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums."

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
EDSGAR W. DIJKSTRA

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain...
EDSGAR W. DIJKSTRA

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on...
EDSGAR W. DIJKSTRA

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a s...
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a s...
E. W. DIJKSTRA

Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
E. W. DIJKSTRA

Raise your quality standards as high as you can live with, avoid wasting your time on routine proble...
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

The fathers of the field had been pretty confusing: John von Neumann speculated about computers and ...
E. W. DIJKSTRA

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be reguarded as a criminal offen...
E. W. DIJKSTRA

It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposur...
E. W. DIJKSTRA

Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it....
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offens...
EDSGER W. DIJKSTRA

Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable c...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life b...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programmin...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Many mathematicians derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a long...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of reward...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offens...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians ...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a s...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Don't compete with me: firstly, I have more experience, and secondly, I have chosen the weapons.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

If 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Why has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Mathematicians are like managers - they want improvement without change.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own skull. He therefore approache...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The traditional mathematician recognizes and appreciates mathematical elegance when he sees it. I pr...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in Califor...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The students that, like the wild animal being prepared for its tricks in the circus called 'life...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Don't blame me for the fact that competent programming, as I view it as an intellectual possibility,...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putti...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as ...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

If in physics there's something you don't understand, you can always hide behind the uncharted depth...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

The effort of using machines to mimic the human mind has always struck me as rather silly. I would r...
EDSGER DIJKSTRA

He is a great simpleton who imagines that the chief power of wealth is to supply wants. In ninety-ni...
W. WIRT

Poetry is the language of feeling.
W. WINTER

What I focus on in life is what I get. And if I concentrate on how bad I am or how wrong I am or how...
W. MITCHELL

Before my accidents, there were ten thousands things I could do. I could spend the rest of my life d...
W. MITCHELL

Clemency is one of the brightest diamonds in the crown of majesty.
W. SECKER

Usually the greatest boasters are the smallest workers. The deep rivers pay a larger tribute to the ...
W. SECKER

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
W. FUSSELMAN

Gentle words, quiet words, are after all the most powerful words. They are more convincing, more com...
W. GLADDEN

For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching has become...
BILL W.

There are more references in the Koran than the Bible to Mary, the mother of Jesus. -Julia W-.
JULIA W

VMS is a text-only adventure game. If you win you can use Unix.
W. DAVIDSON

You'll never find another like me because im the original.
RACHEL W

You might as well be nice to everyone, because in the end if something happens to someone your mean/...
RACHEL W

I remember on that occasion, Roz invited a group of friends to gather around a festive table for a m...
W. HULL

Gentle words, quiet words, are after all the most powerful words. They are more convincing, more c...
W. GLADDEN

Relationships are like glass. Sometimes its better to leave them broken instead of hurting yourself ...
ASHLEY W

Marriage is a mutual admiration society where one person is always right, the other is the husband.
W. GRANT

If we were to follow the format of Edith's memorial service, we would be here until next Wednesday,
W. HULL

Bear in mind three essential qualities in all games of intellect:– Never to show selfishness or to...
W. PATTERSON

Cheap things aren't good, and good things aren't cheap.
MARK W.

Every morning began with Roz getting her mother up, dressed and in a wheelchair, then going off to t...
W. HULL

When you come right down to it, the ground you stand on is the ground you stand on.
W. LEITZEN

We are hear to celebrate, and I mean celebrate, the unique and wonderful life of Rosamond McPherson ...
W. HULL

Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure ou...
W. EUGENE SMITH

It never occurred to me that we would have as grandiose a program as the Marshall Plan, but I felt t...
W. AVERELL HARRIMAN

Never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reve...
W. EUGENE SMITH

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Para...
W. H. AUDEN

Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.
W. C. FIELDS

Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.
W. C. FIELDS

The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

It was the rainbow gave thee birth, and left thee all her lovely hues.
W. H. DAVIES

If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

Quality is pride of workmanship.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot w...
GEORGE W. BUSH

When the congregation becomes the norm by which sermons are measured, a minister has put a mortgage ...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

When the dictators and the opportunists are gone, the cross will still stand before us and something...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

A service of worship is primarily a service to God. When we realize this and act upon it, we make it...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most ...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

Whatever the right hand findeth to do, the left hand carries a watch on its wrist to show how long i...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

The roads of life are strewn with the wreckage of run-down and half-finished loves.
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

Let us not bankrupt our todays by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and by borrowing in ad...
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

Love is the outreach of self toward completion.
RALPH W. SOCKMAN

What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but ...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.
GEORGE W. BUSH

Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

In Japan, a company worker's position is secure. He is retrained for another job if his present ...
W. EDWARDS DEMING

You should not ask questions without knowledge.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

Declining productivity and quality means your unit production costs stay high but you don't have...
W. EDWARDS DEMING

The prevailing - and foolish - attitude is that a good manager can be a good manager anywhere, with ...
W. EDWARDS DEMING

Whenever there is fear, you will get wrong figures.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

When a system is stable, telling the worker about mistakes is only tampering.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

The emphasis should be on why we do a job.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

We are here to make another world.
W. EDWARDS DEMING

People with targets and jobs dependent upon meeting them will probably meet the targets - even if th...
W. EDWARDS DEMING

I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
W. C. FIELDS

There are only two real ways to get ahead today - sell liquor or drink it.
W. C. FIELDS

Ah, the patter of little feet around the house. There's nothing like having a midget for a butle...
W. C. FIELDS

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn f...
W. C. FIELDS

I was in love with a beautiful blonde once. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I'm ...
W. C. FIELDS

Never try to impress a woman, because if you do she'll expect you to keep up the standard for th...
W. C. FIELDS

A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
W. C. FIELDS

No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it's only a question of degree.
W. C. FIELDS

The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
W. C. FIELDS

It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.
W. C. FIELDS

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.
W. C. FIELDS

Writing is the supreme solace.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, on...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

We learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell... their heart's in the right place...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of ligh...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the ba...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

We are asleep with compasses in our hands.
W. S. MERWIN

Now all my teachers are dead except silence.
W. S. MERWIN

Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you've lost the wh...
W. S. MERWIN

In 1975 I decided that there was no future in flying (airline jobs were impossible to get, and who w...
W. RICHARD STEVENS

After graduating in 1973 I went into the programming field.
W. RICHARD STEVENS

I drove across country in my yellow 1970 VW bug (which I drove until 1986) to Los Angeles, having ha...
W. RICHARD STEVENS

Most writers are unhappy with film adaptations of their work, and rightly so. 'Field of Dreams,&...
W. P. KINSELLA

I can still put down some pretty nasty stuff on paper, which is what I enjoy doing.
W. P. KINSELLA

Most people write a lot of autobiography, but when I came to write autobiography I discovered that n...
W. P. KINSELLA

Read, read, read, read and then read some more.
W. P. KINSELLA

I knew how to read box scores and who the baseball heroes were before I had ever seen or even heard ...
W. P. KINSELLA

Baseball is meant to be a contemplative game. They play music to draw young people to the game. If y...
W. P. KINSELLA

If I have a choice between looking something up and making it up, I'll make it up every time.
W. P. KINSELLA

I have no interest in non-fiction. I don't read it and don't watch it and don't write it...
W. P. KINSELLA

I don't believe in the afterlife.
W. P. KINSELLA

The crack of the bat, the sound of baseballs thumping into gloves, the infield chatter are like bird...
W. P. KINSELLA

Find something that thrills you, and when you finish reading it for enjoyment, read it again line by...
W. P. KINSELLA

The Bureau doesn't have any secret files.
W. MARK FELT

I haven't leaked anything to anybody. They are wrong!
W. MARK FELT

I have to do this my way.
W. MARK FELT

I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat.
W. MARK FELT

I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or anyone else!
W. MARK FELT

The more the soul knows, the more she loves, and loving much, she tastes much.
W. H. MURRAY

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.
W. H. MURRAY

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
W. H. MURRAY

It was a proof of Welsh good nature: so long as I had a friend that knew and could introduce me, the...
W. H. DAVIES

I had now been in the United States of America something like five years, working here and there as ...
W. H. DAVIES

Summer boarders often left clothes behind, and of what use were they to the landladies, for no rag-a...
W. H. DAVIES

I had made up my mind to find a woman to share my life: one who would leave London altogether and go...
W. H. DAVIES

I dislike society because conversation exhausts my brain more than silent thought - again, I cannot ...
W. H. DAVIES

However careful a tramp may be to avoid places where there is abundant work, he cannot always succee...
W. H. DAVIES

My impression of Americans from the beginning is of the best, and I have never since had cause to al...
W. H. DAVIES

It has always been a wonder to me where my conversational power has gone: at the present time, I can...
W. H. DAVIES

I like to see a good scientific bout by men who know the use of their hands but would rather walk tw...
W. H. DAVIES

Mother's father and brothers all took great interest in pugilism, and they knew the game well fr...
W. H. DAVIES

But cats to me are strange, so strange I cannot sleep if one is near.
W. H. DAVIES

Teetotallers lack the sympathy and generosity of men that drink.
W. H. DAVIES

How the snow falls in the north! Flake on flake falling incessantly, until the small dingles are alm...
W. H. DAVIES

Being in this fine mood, I spoke to a little boy, whom I saw playing alone in the road, asking him w...
W. H. DAVIES

What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?
W. H. DAVIES

I like to give pennies to children, but unfortunately, a man cannot do these things if he lives in a...
W. H. DAVIES

As long as I love Beauty I am young.
W. H. DAVIES

May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, consideri...
W. H. AUDEN

All that we are not stares back at what we are.
W. H. AUDEN

A poet can write about a man slaying a dragon, but not about a man pushing a button that releases a ...
W. H. AUDEN

To save your world you asked this man to die; would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
W. H. AUDEN

You owe it to all of us all get on with what you're good at.
W. H. AUDEN

In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him ...
W. H. AUDEN

'Healing,' Papa would tell me, 'is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature...
W. H. AUDEN

Art is born of humiliation.
W. H. AUDEN

Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.
W. H. AUDEN

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.
W. H. AUDEN

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. AUDEN

Comparing oneself with one's fellow writers is a bad idea. I would not review a fellow writer un...
W. G. SEBALD

I always read the translator's draft all the way through - a very laborious business.
W. G. SEBALD

Where I grew up, in a remote village at the back of a valley, the old still thought the dead needed ...
W. G. SEBALD

Until I was 16 or 17, I had heard practically nothing about the history that preceded 1945. Only whe...
W. G. SEBALD

I was brought up largely by my grandfather because my father only returned from a prisoner-of-war ca...
W. G. SEBALD

A subject which at first glance seems quite removed from the undeclared concern of the book can enca...
W. G. SEBALD

Occasionally I write a small piece or the odd lecture in English, and I teach in English, but my fic...
W. G. SEBALD

I don't want to talk about my trials and tribulations. Once you reveal even part of what your re...
W. G. SEBALD

To my mind, it seems clear that those who have no memory have the much greater chance to lead happy ...
W. G. SEBALD

You could grow up in Germany in the postwar years without ever meeting a Jewish person. There were s...
W. G. SEBALD

People's ability to forget what they do not want to know, to overlook what is before their eyes,...
W. G. SEBALD

I've always felt that the traditional novel doesn't give you enough information about the na...
W. G. SEBALD

The moral backbone of literature is about that whole question of memory. To my mind it seems clear t...
W. G. SEBALD

It is a sore point, because you do have advantages if you have access to more than one language. You...
W. G. SEBALD

In school I was in the dark room all the time, and I've always collected stray photographs; ther...
W. G. SEBALD

I've never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.
W. EUGENE SMITH

Passion is in all great searches and is necessary to all creative endeavors.
W. EUGENE SMITH

The world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera.
W. EUGENE SMITH

If transportation technology was moving along as fast as microprocessor technology, then the day aft...
W. DANIEL HILLIS

A human body is a conversation going on, both within the cells and between the cells, and they'r...
W. DANIEL HILLIS

Of course, a movie is in constant flux.
W. D. RICHTER

Why not a space flower? Why do we always expect metal ships?
W. D. RICHTER

I think, of all the holidays we celebrate, my least favorite is Earth Day. For one thing, I never kn...
W. BRUCE CAMERON

With a 3D printer, you could build your own car, one part at a time. When you were finished, you'...
W. BRUCE CAMERON

Edsgar W. Dijkstra

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