Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger DijkstraRead
Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We can innovate and improve by changing our perspective on programming to focus on ideas rather than code.
Edsger Dijkstra's quote emphasizes the importance of conceptualizing programming as a way of solving problems and implementing ideas, rather than merely writing lines of code. By shifting our mindset to focus on the underlying logic and principles that drive software development, we can foster creativity and innovation, ultimately leading to better solutions and progress in technology.
Themes
ProgressProgrammingInnovationMindsetTechnology
In practice
Example use cases
In a tech conference talk about modern agile methodologies.
More from Edsger Dijkstra
All quotes βThe purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.
Edsger DijkstraRead
We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers.
Edsger DijkstraRead
The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.
Edsger DijkstraRead
LISP has jokingly been described as "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer." I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavour of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
Edsger DijkstraRead
A most important, but also most elusive, aspect of any tool is its influence on the habits of those who train themselves in its use. If the tool is a programming language this influence is, whether we like it or not, an influence on our thinking habits.... A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits.
Edsger DijkstraRead
Similar quotes
With 'The Social Network,' I got into it at first because frankly I thought there was a cool courtroom drama to be had with the intellectual properties. And then what further drew me in was that the most extraordinary social networking device ever created was created by the world's most antisocial person. I liked that story.
Aaron SorkinRead
We want to be able to service our customers more, like an Internet service. Our goal is to run one of the largest Internet services that enables people to use Windows on an everyday basis.
Satya NadellaRead
Anyone who has had actual contact with the making of the inventions that built the radio art knows that these inventions have been the product of experiment and work based on physical reasoning, rather than on the mathematicians' calculations and formulae. Precisely the opposite impression is obtained from many of our present day text books and publications.
Edwin Howard ArmstrongRead
Most of 'big data' is a fraud because it is really 'dumb data.'
Peter ThielRead
Celtel established a mobile phone network in Africa at a time when investors told me that there was no market for mobile phones there.
Mo IbrahimRead
Marketers use big data profiling to predict who is about to get pregnant, who is likely to buy a new car, and who is about to change sexual orientations. That's how they know what ads to send to whom. The NSA, meanwhile, wants to know who is likely to commit an act of terrorism - and for this, they need us.
Douglas RushkoffRead