Yhn LifeFood first seen 5 d ago, last 19 min ago, peak #1

Dijkstra's 1978 essay mocks natural language programming

Original: The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978)

A 1978 essay by Edsger W. Dijkstra, arguing that programming in natural language is foolish, is drawing fresh attention online. Dijkstra contended that natural languages are too ambiguous and imprecise for writing correct programs, defending formal notation instead. Readers are revisiting the piece to weigh its arguments against modern efforts to let people code in plain English.

Why now: The debate over programming in plain English, revived by AI coding tools, makes Dijkstra's old critique newly relevant.

Edsger W. DijkstraUniversity of Texas at Austin

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Evidence

• The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978) · xiaoyu2006 · 390

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