Edsger Dijkstra Thinking Quotations

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.

It is a mistake to think that programmers wares are programs. Programmers have to produce trustworthy solutions and present it in the form of cogent arguments. Programs source code is just the accompanying material to which these arguments are to be applied to.

A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits.

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.

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.

We are all shaped by the tools we use, in particular: the formalisms we use shape our thinking habits, for better or for worse, and that means that we have to be very careful in the choice of what we learn and teach, for unlearning is not really possible.

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.

Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.

Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.

The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.