Name: Dijkstra 2008-01-24 23:54
# FORTRAN --"the infantile disorder"--, by now nearly 20 years old, is hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to use.
# PL/I --"the fatal disease"-- belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set.
# It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
# The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.
# APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.
# PL/I --"the fatal disease"-- belongs more to the problem set than to the solution set.
# It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
# The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.
# APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.