We are all shaped by the tools we use, in particular: the formalisms we use shape our thinking habits, for better or for worse, and that means that we have to be very careful in the choice of what we learn and teach, for unlearning is not really possible.

A programming language is a tool that has profound influence on our thinking habits.

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.

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

In the software business there are many enterprises for which it is not clear that science can help them; that science should try is not clear either.

It is a mistake to think that programmers wares are programs. Programmers have to produce trustworthy solutions and present it in the form of cogent arguments. Programs source code is just the accompanying material to which these arguments are to be applied to.

Programming in Basic causes brain damage.