Edsger W. Dijkstra personal blog
Dijkstra On the foolishness of "natural language programming"
Since the early days of automatic computing we have had people that have felt it as a shortcoming that programming required the care and accuracy that is characteristic for the use of any formal symbolism. They blamed the mechanical slave for its strict obedience with which it carried out its given instructions, even…
- Points
- 448
- HN comments
- 552
- Submissions
- 2
- Cited by
- 27 commenters
Software EngineeringProgramming Languages2025
On Hacker News
| Submitted | Title on HN | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 2025 | Dijkstra On the foolishness of "natural language programming" by nimbleplum40 | 448 | 275 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978) by xiaoyu2006 | 391 | 277 |
Cited in comments
Linked from 49 Hacker News comments by 27 different people, from Jun 2014 to Sep 2026.
Most recent:
- ds_opseeker · Sep 16, 2026
- carschno · Aug 27, 2026
- lunar_mycroft · Aug 26, 2026
- Barrin92 · Aug 24, 2026
- Barrin92 · May 5, 2026
- godelski · Apr 20, 2026
