“The most effective debugging tool is still careful thought, coupled with judiciously placed print statements.”

"Unix for Beginners" (1979).

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Brian W. Kernighan6

Canadian computer scientist 1942

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Brian W. Kernighan (1942) Canadian computer scientist

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“Systems engineering is most effectively conceived of as a process that starts with the detection of a problem and continues through problem definition, planning and designing of a system, manufacturing or other implementing section, its use, and finally on to its obsolescence. Further, Systems engineering is not a matter of tools alone; It is a careful coordination of process, tools and people.”

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“To be effective, judicial administration must not be leaden-footed.”

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“Most grown-up people get rid of the childish notion that whatever appears in print is true, but many cling to the equally absurd notion that the printing of a statement does give it some claim to dignity and credence. For the purposes of argumentation, let us here make this point emphatic: The mere fact that a statement appears in print lends not one atom to its value. Every assertion that is brought forward — though it may have been printed a thousand times and repeated a million times — must be challenged and tested before it can be regarded as trustworthy testimony of authority, — before it can be of any value as evidence.”

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“The properties of executability and universality associated with programming languages can be combined, in a single language, with the well-known properties of mathematical notation which make it such an effective tool of thought.”

Kenneth E. Iverson (1920–2004) Canadian computer scientist

§5
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“If it is to be effective as a tool of thought, a notation must allow convenient expression not only of notions arising directly from a problem, but also of those arising in subsequent analysis, generalization, and specialization.”

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§1.1
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“The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.”

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“The most effective debugging tool is still careful thought, coupled with judiciously placed print statements.”

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Brian W. Kernighan6

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