Teaching Cobol Ought To Be Regarded As

There Should Be No Such Thing As Boring Mathematics.

When I Came Back From Munich, It Was September, And I Was Professor Of Mathematics At The Eindhoven University Of Technology. Later I Learned That I Had Been The Department's Third Choice, After Two Numerical Analysts Had Turned The Invitation Down; The Decision To Invite Me Had Not Been An Easy One, On The One Hand Because I Had Not Really Studied Mathematics, And On The Other Hand Because Of My Sandals, My Beard And My "arrogance" (whatever That May Be).

When We Take The Position That It Is Not Only The Programmer's Responsibility To Produce A Correct Program But Also To Demonstrate Its Correctness In A Convincing Manner, Then The Above Remarks Have A Profound Influence On The Programmer's Activity: The Object He Has To Produce Must Be Usefully Structured.

In The Wake Of The Cultural Revolution And Now Of The Recession I Observe A Mounting Pressure To Co-operate And To Promote "teamwork." For Its Anti-individualistic Streak, Such A Drive Is Of Course Highly Suspect; Some People May Not Be So Sensitive To It, But Having Seen The Hitlerjugend In Action Suffices For The Rest Of Your Life To Be Very Wary Of "team Spirit." Very.

I Would Therefore Like To Posit That Computing's Central Challenge, How Not To Make A Mess Of It, Has Not Yet Been Met.