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As a matter of fact, the adaptability of a program to changes in its objectives (often called maintainability) and to changes in its environment (nowadays called portability) can be measured primarily in terms of the degree to which it is neatly structured.

— Niklaus Wirth Program Development by Stepwise Refinement (1971)

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More quotes by Niklaus Wirth

In our profession, precision and perfection are not a dispensable luxury, but a simple necessity.

Niklaus Wirth (1997)

Reliable and transparent programs are usually not in the interest of the designer.

Niklaus Wirth (1999)

The possible solutions to a given problem emerge as the leaves of a tree, each node representing a point of deliberation and decision.

Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.

Experience shows that the success of a programming course critically depends on the choice of these examples.

Program Development by Stepwise Refinement (1971)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Niklaus Wirth (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.