Essays on the Nature and Role of Mathematical Elegance by Edsger Dijkstra
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Ranked by a public rubric, not by votes: what a comment adds counts, not who wrote it. How comments are ranked · Comment rules
Summary
Edsger Dijkstra's opening essay on mathematical elegance argues that most people think poorly, that educational systems and institutions undervalue the teaching of effective thinking, and that clumsy, overly complex computer systems persist partly because complexity is tolerated or even rewarded.