Niklaus Wirth Quotes

But active programming consists of the design of new programs, rather than contemplation of old programs.

In the practical world of computing, it is rather uncommon that a program, once it performs correctly and satisfactorily, remains unchanged forever.

Programming is usually taught by examples.

Clearly, programming courses should teach methods of design and construction, and the selected examples should be such that a gradual development can be nicely demonstrated.

Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.

Reliable and transparent programs are usually not in the interest of the designer.

Go To statement considered harmful.

During the process of stepwise refinement, a notation which is natural to the problem in hand should be used as long as possible.

As a matter of fact, the adaptability of a program to changes in its objectives (often called maintainability) and to changes in its environment (nowadays called portability) can be measured primarily in terms of the degree to which it is neatly structured.

In our profession, precision and perfection are not a dispensable luxury, but a simple necessity.

... we do not consider it as good engineering practice to consume a resource lavishly just because it happens to be cheap.

Experience shows that the success of a programming course critically depends on the choice of these examples.