“Most problems in real life are poorly understood, in that the real problem is often something different from what it is orginally thought to be.”
Tony Hoare
Computer Science (Primary source)
Tony Hoare’s 1971 inaugural lecture at Queen’s University Belfast where he aims to explain the nature and significance of computer science to a general audience by focusing on the central activity of the discipline: computer programming.
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“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“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“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.”
— Tony Hoare Primary source“A life of leisure, and a life of laziness, are two things.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Disputed“Have you something to do tomorrow; do it today.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“A life which does not go into action is a failure.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary sourceProblems Understanding Computer Science Analysis