Theories of Programming: The Life & Works of Tony Hoare (Primary source)
In the final chapter, Tony Hoare reflects personally on his career and contributions, emphasizing humility, collaboration, and the enduring importance of clear thinking and formal reasoning in programming. He encourages future generations to pursue both rigorous theory and practical impact with curiosity and generosity.
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“The scales fell from my eyes. I realised that both verification and testing were using the same technology—assertions—on a common goal of improving software products in their speed of delivery, their quality, and their reliability. Ever since then I have renounced all the principles which I preached as an academic, about the superior results of proving programs instead of testing them. I would concentrate instead on reconciling these two previously opposing positions.”
Tony Hoare
“What is the central core of the subject [computer science]? What is it that distinguishes it from the separate subjects with which it is related? What is the linking thread which gathers these disparate branches into a single discipline? My answer to these questions is simple—it is the art of programming a computer.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“In all branches of commerce and industry, history shows dramatic reduction in the error rates when their cost is brought back from the customer to the perpetrator.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“The first rule of war is to concentrate superior strength for decisive action and to avoid division of force or engaging in detail.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.”
— John Carmack Primary source