“Here is a language so far ahead of its time that it was not only an improvement on its predecessors but also on nearly all its successors.”
Tony Hoare
The language in question is ALGOL 60.
Hints on programming-language design (Primary source)
In this paper, Tony Hoare outlines foundational principles for designing programming languages, emphasizing that readability and simplicity are more valuable than clever features or machine optimization.
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“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“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“The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“A crude measure of the simplicity of an engineering tool is the length of the manual required to give a full and complete account of how to use it and avoid misusing it.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“If you have time don’t wait for time.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Time enough always proves little enough.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourceComputer programming Admiration