Edsger Dijkstra Quotes

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

Good, Hope, Impossible

Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
Edsger Dijkstra

Computers, Science, Computer

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.
Edsger Dijkstra

Yourself, Enough, Looking

The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility, and avoids clever tricks like the plague.
Edsger Dijkstra

Humility, Full, Clever

Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger Dijkstra

Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure.
Edsger Dijkstra

Success, Failure, Between

Many mathematicians derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a long tradition of rational thinking; I am afraid they idealize their cultural ancestors.
Edsger Dijkstra

Long, Feeling, Thinking

Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.
Edsger Dijkstra

Bad, Idea, California

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

Show, Used, Absence

The students that, like the wild animal being prepared for its tricks in the circus called 'life', expects only training as sketched above, will be severely disappointed: by his standards he will learn next to nothing.
Edsger Dijkstra

Life, Nothing, Training

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
Edsger Dijkstra

Mind, Teaching, Criminal

Why has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage, if that's what it is, that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it.
Edsger Dijkstra

Education, Work, Good

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
Edsger Dijkstra

Try, Impossible, Language

Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.
Edsger Dijkstra

While, Aim, Avoiding

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.
Edsger Dijkstra

Future, Past, Through

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

Experience, Weapons, Chosen

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.
Edsger Dijkstra

Days, Spirit, Perfection

Mathematicians are like managers - they want improvement without change.
Edsger Dijkstra

Change, Managers

Perfecting oneself is as much unlearning as it is learning.
Edsger Dijkstra

Learning, Oneself, Perfecting

Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
Edsger Dijkstra

Difficult, Pure, Remain

Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding.
Edsger Dijkstra

Life, Teaching, Effective

The ability of discerning high quality unavoidably implies the ability of identifying shortcomings.
Edsger Dijkstra

High, Quality, Ability

The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.
Edsger Dijkstra

Challenges, Source, Suspicion

The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.
Edsger Dijkstra

Computers, Question, Whether

The traditional mathematician recognizes and appreciates mathematical elegance when he sees it. I propose to go one step further, and to consider elegance an essential ingredient of mathematics: if it is clumsy, it is not mathematics.
Edsger Dijkstra

Step, Consider, Essential

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: Dutch

Type: Scientist

Born: May 11, 1930

Died: August 6, 2002

Links

Find on Amazon: Edsger Dijkstra

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

Carl Sagan
Charles Darwin
Margaret Mead
George Washington Carver
Isaac Asimov
Galileo Galilei
Richard Dawkins
Thomas Huxley
More

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us