Principles of Living · Bookplate

Edsger W. Dijkstra

@edsger-w-dijkstra

“Edsger W. Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist and mathematician who made foundational contributions to programming languages, algorithms, and software engineering. He is best known for Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm and for his influential work advocating structured programming.”

Principles

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The manifesto · 20 principles

Aim for programs and arguments that can be reasoned about formally, not merely tested empirically.
Let your work be guided by standards of excellence rather than by the desire for approval.
Challenge accepted practices when they are unsound, even if doing so is unpopular.
Communicate with exactness and economy; every unnecessary word or line is a potential source of confusion.
Favor simple, elegant solutions over complicated ones, even when complexity is socially rewarded.
Avoid anthropomorphizing computers or treating programming as magic; it is a human activity governed by logic.
Respect the importance of mathematics as a foundation for reliable computing and rigorous engineering.
Be disciplined in habits of work and thought, and maintain high standards for yourself and others.
Value intellectual honesty above convenience; if an argument is weak, say so plainly.
Write and think in a way that makes reasoning possible; code should be amenable to formal understanding.
Insist that software be correct by construction whenever possible, rather than relying on debugging as a primary strategy.
Use abstraction carefully: it should reduce complexity without hiding essential truth.
Be skeptical of fashionable ideas and evaluate methods by their logical merit, not by trends or consensus.
Do not confuse speed of implementation with quality of solution; take the time needed to get the fundamentals right.
Avoid unnecessary complexity; elegance is achieved by removing what is not essential.
Break complex problems into smaller, well-defined parts and solve them by disciplined decomposition.
Design programs and systems with structure and simplicity so they can be understood, reasoned about, and maintained.
Treat programming as a serious intellectual discipline, not merely an engineering craft or a matter of trial and error.
Prefer proof, rigor, and correctness over intuition, popularity, or clever-looking shortcuts.
Pursue clarity and precision in thought and writing; avoid vagueness, ambiguity, and sloppy reasoning.