In 1968 Edgar Dijkstra wrote a letter to the editor to Association for Computing Machinery (AMC) about the go to statement in computer programs, titled “Go To Statement Considered Harmful.” 

 

He said:

 

“For a number of years I have been I have been familiar with the observation that the quality of programmers is a decreasing function of the density of go to statements in the programs they produce.”

 

and

 

“The go to statement as it stands is just too primitive; it is too much an invitation to make a mess of one’s program.”

 

Few, if any, programmers use go to statements these days.  Dijkstra’s letter, however, received a great deal of attention in 1968.

 

His letter is worth reading because even with modern languages and software development tools, it is still possible to “make a mess of one’s program.”

 

Dijkstra and his contemporaries are credited with advancing computer science and computer programming into rigorous disciplines.

 

To read Dijkstra’s letter:  

 

 

To read about Dijkstra’s letter: