Post #1674553
2026-04-25 22:02 UTC
Because the naive interpretation of his notes would simply be that software is a sound and total mathematical object specifying a computation, and therefore side-effects are controlled or simply does not exist (side-effects are the things requiring maintenance...).
But there's no world where Prof. Dijkstra would have reduced his vision to this, he was too smart for such a reduction. I'm pretty sure there's something hidden. A gem.
Replies (1)
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@nico@mastodon.puffer.fish 2026-04-25 22:05
"So, we have to design abstract symbol manipulators. We all know what they look like: they look like programs or —to use somewhat more general terminology— usually rather elaborate formulae from some formal system. It really helps to view a program as a formula. Firstly, it puts the programmer's task in the proper perspective: he has to derive that formula." (1/2)