“The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.”

1970s, How do we tell truths that might hurt? (1975)

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Edsger W. Dijkstra photo
Edsger W. Dijkstra 68
Dutch computer scientist 1930–2002

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“I think of the company advertising "Thought Processors" or the college pretending that learning BASIC suffices or at least helps, whereas the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.”

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