Blog Posts

Dijkstra: On Elegance

0001 January 1

How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity — in short: what mathematicians call “elegance”— are not a dispensable luxury, but a crucial matter that decides between success and failure?

Tags: computer science

Dijkstra: Quick and Dirty

0001 January 1

I mean, if 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself “Dijkstra would not have liked this”, well, that would be enough immortality for me.

Tags: computer science

Equal Affection

0001 January 1

If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me. — W. H. Auden, The More Loving One

Tags: humanity

Her Eyes

0001 January 1

It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes. — Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

Tags: humanity

Her Laughter

0001 January 1

Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering. — Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

Tags: humanity

Holding the Universe Together

0001 January 1

She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together. — J. D. Salinger, A Girl I Knew

Tags: humanity

Lives Not Lead

0001 January 1

Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living. — Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Tags: humanity

Obstacles

0001 January 1

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. — Molière

Tags: humanity

Perfect

0001 January 1

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. — John Steinbeck, East of Eden Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien Dit que le mieux est l’ennemi du bien. — Voltaire Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. — Confucius (maybe)

Tags: humanity

Philosophy

0001 January 1

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. — Ludwig Wittgenstein

Tags: philosophy