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← People and their mental models

Edsger W. Dijkstra's mental models

2 claims Edsger W. Dijkstra made fit 1 mental model. Most often: Less, but better. Everything they said here.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Less, but better

Find the essence and cut the rest; simplicity is hard work, not the absence of effort.

Others who think with this model

Jason YuanJohn MaedaDieter RamsPaul GrahamRich HickeySteve Jobsand 1 more

Open the model page

Simplicity takes hard work to achieve and education to appreciate, and complexity sells better.

  1. Edsger W. Dijkstra Dutch computer scientist (1930 to 2002) Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better. On the nature of Computing Science (EWD896)cs.utexas.edu · 10 Aug 1984All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsSimplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.

    ↗On the nature of Computing Science (EWD896)cs.utexas.edu

    10 Aug 1984

A design has to be kept simple for reliability and intellectual control, but nobody yet knows how to reach simplicity systematically.

  1. Edsger W. Dijkstra Dutch computer scientist (1930 to 2002) we know that for the sake of reliability and intellectual control we have to keep the design simple and disentangled, and in individual cases we have been remarkably successful, but we do not know how to reach simplicity in a systematic manner. Computing Science: Achievements and Challenges (EWD1284)cs.utexas.edu · 1 Mar 1999All korrents from this piece
    Their wordswe know that for the sake of reliability and intellectual control we have to keep the design simple and disentangled, and in individual cases we have been remarkably successful, but we do not know how to reach simplicity in a systematic manner.

    ↗Computing Science: Achievements and Challenges (EWD1284)cs.utexas.edu

    1 Mar 1999