Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
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.
Interpretation
Abstraction aims to clarify concepts by allowing for precise expression without ambiguity.
In this quote, Edsger Dijkstra emphasizes that the intention behind abstraction is not to obscure meaning, but rather to elevate understanding to a clearer and more precise level. Abstraction serves as a powerful tool in various fields, especially in computer science and mathematics, where it enables individuals to simplify complex ideas while maintaining accuracy in communication and thought.
In practice
In a lecture about programming paradigms, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of abstraction in software development.
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.
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.
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.
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
'Mind and matter,' said the lady in the wig, 'glide swift into the vortex if immensity. Howls the sublime, and softly sleeps the calm Ideal, in the whispering chambers of Imagination.'
The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.
The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home: Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That stand upon the threshold of the new.
Everyone finds justification for his or her views in logic and analysis, but a personal philosophy often emerges from some archaic part of the mind, an early idea of how the world should be.
In a sense, a cyborg has no origin story in the Western sense β a βfinalβ irony since the cyborg is also the awful apocalyptic telos of the βWestβsβ escalating dominations of abstract individuation, an ultimate self untied at last from all dependency, a man in space.
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