Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Emil Wirthis a Swiss computer scientist, best known for designing several programming languages, including Pascal, and for pioneering several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984 he won the Turing Award, generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science, for developing a sequence of innovative computer languages...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth15 February 1934
CountrySwitzerland
assumes design explicitly large producer software takes
I know of a particular, very large software producer that explicitly assumes that design takes 20% of developers' time, and debugging takes 80%.
design development example
Clearly, programming courses should teach methods of design and construction, and the selected examples should be such that a gradual development can be nicely demonstrated.
designer program interest
Reliable and transparent programs are usually not in the interest of the designer.
design program contemplation
But active programming consists of the design of new programs, rather than contemplation of old programs.
sight drawing design
Professors typically spend their time in meetings about planning, policy, proposals, fund-raising, consulting, interviewing, traveling, and so forth, but spend relatively little time at their drawing boards. As a result, they lose touch with the substance of their rapidly developing subject. They lose the ability to design; they lose sight of what is essential; and they resign themselves to teach academically challenging puzzles.
death thinking design
A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do.
activity certain creative examples exhibit serving taught
The creative activity of programming - to be distinguished from coding - is usually taught by examples serving to exhibit certain techniques.
approach based convinced effort high investing quality recognized structured time using worth
Yet, I am convinced that there is a need for high quality software, and the time will come when it will be recognized that it is worth investing effort in its development and in using a careful, structured approach based on safe, structured languages.
adding ultimate
Our ultimate goal is extensible programming (EP). By this, we mean the construction of hierarchies of modules, each module adding new functionality to the system.
steps construction program
Program construction consists of a sequence of refinement steps.
code-quality program should
Programs should be written and polished until they acquire publication quality.
teacher teaching simple
My being a teacher had a decisive influence on making language and systems as simple as possible so that in my teaching, I could concentrate on the essential issues of programming rather than on details of language and notation.
people style looks
Many people tend to look at programming styles and languages like religions: if you belong to one, you cannot belong to others. But this analogy is another fallacy.
beautiful successful ideas
The idea that one might derive satisfaction from his or her successful work, because that work is ingenious, beautiful, or just pleasing, has become ridiculed.