On the Role of Scientific Thought

Authors: Edsger W. Dijkstra

Published: 1974 (Other)

Source: Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4612-5695-3_12

Summary

Dijkstra coined the phrase "the separation of concerns": the deliberate isolation of one aspect of a problem for study in its own right, while setting other aspects temporarily aside. He argues that faithfullly adhering to this principle is a key aspect of organizing code, logic, data, and ideas in an efficient and understandable way (the "effective ordering of one's thoughts"). Extremely influential in the field of computer programming and software design.

Abstract

Links

Primary

Paper cs.utexas.edu

Standard

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-5695-3_12

Alternate

link.springer.com link.springer.com en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Tags

• Scientific thought

• Separation of concerns

• Programming methodology

• Computer science philosophy

• Software engineering

• Epistemology