Edsger Dijkestra is a founder of our discipline. By "a founder," I mean he wrote some of the first languages, compilers, and algorithms we know and use daily.
One of his most cited pieces is the manuscript A Case against the GO-TO Statement. It was published by the ACM in 1968 under the title Go-to Statement Considered Harmful. Many of the citations simply reference the title, and not the content of the paper. If you wish to read more of his writings, you will find the Dijkestra Archive at UT Austin invaluable.
Consider Dijkestra's (original) manuscript in light of program and language design. Is his message still relevant to us in 2009? In what way? Why? Use your experience with languages like Java, Python, and occam-π, and consider his arguments in light of your experiences to date with a variety of programming languages. (2-3 pages)
