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.

In passing I draw attention to another English expression which often occurs in Dutch texts: "the real world". In Dutch - and I am afraid not in Dutch alone - its usage is almost always a symptom of a violent anti-intellectualism.

The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.

Some consider the puzzles that are created by their omissions as spicy challenges, without which their texts would be boring; others shun clarity lest their work is considered trivial.

If there is one 'scientific' discovery I am proud of, it is the discovery of the habit of writing without publication in mind.

Beware of "the real world". A speaker's apeal to it is always an invitation not to challenge his tacit assumptions.

Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.