Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Edsger DijkstraRead
Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence!
Interpretation
Testing can identify existing bugs in software, but it cannot guarantee that there are no bugs left.
In this quote, Edsger Dijkstra highlights a fundamental principle of software testing: while testing can demonstrate that bugs exist in a program, it cannot prove that a program is entirely free of defects. This reflects the inherent limitations of testing in the complex nature of software systems, where it is possible for undetected bugs to persist even after rigorous testing efforts.
In practice
During a software development meeting to emphasize the importance of thorough testing to the team.
Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.
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.
The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.
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.
Our approach to making games is to find the fun first and then use the technology to enhance the fun.
The thing about the Internet is that you can write something... for a very narrow audience and make a living at it.
Technologies of easy travel give us wings; they annihilate the toil and dust of pilgrimage; they spiritualize travel! Transition being so facile, what can be any man's inducement to tarry in one spot?
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.
You have to immerse yourself into a product and use it in order to really understand it and that's why I have a new cellphone every month or two.
The internet, Facebook and Twitter have created mass communications and social spaces that regimes cannot control.
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