COLLECTION
002

Essays about computers

  • On the fact that the Atlantic Ocean has two sides
    Edsger W. Dijkstra, EWD 611, 1977 · manuscript

    … Scientific Thought, as I understand it, derives its effectiveness from our willingness to acknowledge the smallness of our heads …

  • Epigrams on Programming
    Alan J. Perlis, 1982

    … If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some. …

  • You and Your Research
    Richard Hamming, 1986 lecture

    … I think that if you look carefully you will see that often the great scientists, by turning the problem around a bit, changed a defect to an asset. For example, many scientists when they found they couldn't do a problem finally began to study why not. They then turned it around the other way and said, “But of course, this is what it is” and got an important result. So ideal working conditions are very strange. The ones you want aren't always the best ones for you. …