"Go To statement considered harmful."
— Niklaus Wirth
January 1, 1970
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Added on April 10, 2026
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Turing Award laureates
Computer scientists
People from Switzerland
Original Language: English
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Often attributed to Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, but it was the title to a letter in CACM 11, 3 (March, 1968). However The original title of "A Case against the GO TO Statement" (EWD215, PDF here, ACM has its own copy online) was changed by the editor Niklaus Wirth, to speed up publication. Dijkstra explains it himself in EWD1308 (see near the end of the article).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niklaus_Wirth
Often attributed to Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, but it was the title to a letter in CACM 11, 3 (March, 1968). However The original title of "A Case against the GO TO Statement" (EWD215, PDF here, ACM has its own copy online) was changed by the editor Niklaus Wirth, to speed up publication. Dijkstra explains it himself in EWD1308 (see near the end of the article).