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
programming faster software
Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.
faster software hardware
Software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware becomes faster.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
doe program results
Usually its users discover sooner or later that their program does not deliver all the desired results, or worse, that the results requested were not the ones really needed.
choices experience example
Experience shows that the success of a programming course critically depends on the choice of these examples.