Why the Humble Programmer?

“The Humble Programmer” is the title of Edsger Dijkstra’s 1972 ACM Turing Award Lecture. The talk is a melange of personal recollections and strong opinions on relative merits of various mid-century computing issues. He discussed the emerging “software crisis” — the challenge of constructing good software in the face of more powerful machines and more demanding user expectations. Dijkstra believed that the creation of good software requires an appropriate state of mind. He wrote,

We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we … respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers.

Dijkstra was not the only one pointing to the human dimension of software creation. Jerry Weinberg’s 1971 book  The Psychology of Computer Programming provides a vivid connection between humility and the creation of quality software.   If you are a practicing software engineer haven’t already read Steve McConnell’s Code Complete, I (humbly) suggest that you do so immediately–especially the brief but profound chapter 31, “Personal Character.”

So with a tip of the hat to Dijkstra, Weinberg and McConnell, I humbly thought I’d entitle this blog “The New Humble Programmer.”