Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Edsger DijkstraRead
I mean, 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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the desire for one's principles and standards to have a lasting impact on others.
Edsger Dijkstra expresses a hope that his influence on programming and software development will persist over time. He imagines a future where individuals strive for excellence in their work, guided by the standards he valued, suggesting that this legacy would grant him a form of immortality through the memories and practices of others in the field.
Themes
ImmortalityInfluenceStandardsExcellenceProgramming
In practice
Example use cases
During a conference on software development, one might quote Dijkstra to emphasize the importance of maintaining high standards in coding.
More from Edsger Dijkstra
All quotes →Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger DijkstraRead
The 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
Similar quotes
Meditation is not about getting out of ourselves or achieving something better. It is about getting in touch with what you already are.
Pema ChodronRead
The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.
Abraham LincolnRead
It's too bad failures don't give seminars. Wouldn't that be valuable? If you meet a guy who has messed up his life for forty years, you've just got to say, 'John, if I bring my journal and promise to take good notes, would you spend a day with me?'
Jim RohnRead
Goe and catche a falling starre, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me, where all past yeares are, Or who cleft the Divel's foot. Teach me to hear Mermaides' singing, Or to keep of envies stinging, And finde What winde Serves to advance an honest minde.
John DonneRead
Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.
Malcolm ForbesRead