Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Edsger DijkstraRead
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Simplicity in design leads to more reliable systems.
Edsger Dijkstra highlights the importance of simplicity as a foundational aspect in the creation of reliable results or systems. In the context of technology and programming, keeping things simple can prevent errors and complexities that may lead to failures or unreliable outcomes.
Themes
SimplicityReliabilityDesignSystemsWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a presentation about software design principles to emphasize the need for simplicity.
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
Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.
Jane KenyonRead
According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.
Deepak ChopraRead
Most people are just trying to get through the day. Sophisticated people learn how to get from the day.
Jim RohnRead
I'm not better than anyone, and I'm not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what's right. I'm trying to convince them to live by their own.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
Prefer punishment to disgraceful gain; for the one is painful but once, but the other for one's whole life.
Chilon Of SpartaRead
The largest question facing the human race is not when will you learn, but when will you act on what you've already learned.
Neale Donald WalschRead