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ACM SIGSOFT, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING NOTES, Vol 6 No 1  January 1981


[The following item was written as a private note.  It is printed here with the
permission of the author, at my request. PGN]

			**American Programming's Plight**

A competent programmer's most important assets are--perhaps in this order--an
excellent mastery of his native tongue and a considerable maturity.  These facts
are well-known and have been well-understood for more than ten years.

By a sad accident of history they make programming, which is difficult anyhow, in
the USA even more difficult.  Firstly, since the turn of the century the American
culture has gradually turned itself away from mathematics (see Lynn A. Steen,
``Mathematics Today,'' or Morris Kline, ``Mathematics in Western Culture'') to the
extent that many of its otherwise well-educated citizens have no longer a balanced
view of what mathematics is all about.  The culture has become αmathematical,
sometimes even antimathematical.  Who could foresee in 1900 that by the end of the
century, thanks to the advent of computers, it would be more rewarding than ever
to have a mathematically trained mind?  Secondly (see, for instance, Edwin Newman,
``Strickly Speaking''), the ideals of the permissive society have accelerated the
deterioration of the average usage of the English language.  (Other Western 
countries suffer from suc a phenomenon too, but the USA--as usual!--seems to be
shead of them.)  For American programming, these two developments are very
unfortunate indeed.

There is a further encumbering circumstance; I knew it, but a recent visit to some
U.S. industries made me perceive it in its full seriousness.  The trouble is that
pogramming became an industrial activity at a moment (see, for instance, William
H. Whyte, ``The Organization Man'') that the prevailing management philosophy aimed
at making ccmpanies as independent as possible of the competence of their employees.
Needless to say, this gave American industrial programming a very false start. How
strong this attitude still is I learned during my recent visit when a horrified
American manager reacted upon a suggestion of mine with:  ``But that would require
people to think!''  It was as if I had made an indecent proposal.  (The very common
reaction to look immediately for ``a tool'' as soon as a problem emerges could very
well be a symptom of that same attitude.)

One further circumstance blurs people's vision.  For those who understand what
programming is about and agree with Morris Kline's verdict, ``More than anything
else mathematics is a method.'' it is obvious that programming must be regarded as
a branch of mathematics, be it a somewhat curious one.  Certainly now, but perhaps
forever, programming distinguishes itself from most other branches of mathematics
by a different balance between the required knowledge and the required maturity.
Programming requires relatively little mathematical knowledge; avoiding unmastered
complexity, however, requires a great methodological awareness.  I know that this
unusual balance prevents some of my Dutch colleagues from viewing programming as a
promising area of mathematical activity.  More knowledge-oriented than I, they keep
asking ``but where is the relevant mathematics?''  They feel that the subject is
``too shallow'' or ``not rich enough'' to become a flourishing branch of 
mathematics.  My recent visit to the USA reminded me of the fact that the American
education is much more strongly knowledge-oriented than the traditional European
one. (A discussion about computing science education was immediately phrased in
terms of the question ``which subjects the students should take?''; trying to 
improve their thinking habits wasn't considered at all.)  The relatively modest
role of mathematical knowledge in programming blurs the European vision; I am
afraid it blurs the American one even more.

Plataanstraat 5			prof. dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra
5671 AL NUENEN				Burroughs Research Fellow
The Netherlands