“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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“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“Have you something to do tomorrow; do it today.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
— Marie Curie Disputed“Our problems are manmade—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“A life which does not go into action is a failure.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary sourceProblems Understanding Computer Science Analysis