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Dijkstra's 1978 critique of natural language programming resurfaces

Original: The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978)

A 1978 essay by Edsger W. Dijkstra, EWD667, argues against the idea of programming computers in natural language, calling the notion foolish and defending formal notation as essential to clear reasoning. The text, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, is drawing renewed attention among programmers, with many debating whether its arguments still hold in the age of AI-assisted, plain-language coding.

Why now: Renewed interest in prompt-based and AI-assisted coding has made Dijkstra's decades-old argument against natural language programming newly relevant.

Edsger W. DijkstraUniversity of Texas at Austinnatural language programming

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• The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978) · xiaoyu2006 · 384

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