os diferentes nomes do mesmo

Cantor

To ask the right question is harder than to answer it.

-Georg Cantor

Contagem

"I count a lot of things that there's no need to count," Cameron said. "Just because that's the way I am. But I count all the things that need to be counted.

-Richard Brautigan, The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western

Cortando as trivialidades

The transition to a high level freed us from a number of
trivia. In doing so, it has made programming an activity with a
smaller component of drudgery, and therefore with a larger component
of invention: precisely those parts of the job with one used to fill
the day when feeling less bright, are the ones that have disappeared!
The conclusion that the advent of high-level programming languages has
created the need for programmers of higher intellectual caliber has
been fully confirmed by my observations in Western Europe (where I
could follow the development at close quarters) where in the late
sixties many large computer using organizations had problems in
finding appropriate employment for the programmers they had attracted
in the fifties, because their profession had outgrown their
intellectual capacities.

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, EWD540 - Two views of programming

Situação equivalente à que vemos hoje com a linguagens "ainda mais
alto nível", como Ruby e Haskell.

Rules of discovery

"The first rule of discovery is to have brains and good
luck. The second rule of discovery is to sit tight and wait till you
get a bright idea. It may be good to be reminded somewhat rudely that
certain aspirations are hopeless. Infallible rules of discovery
leading to the solution of all possible mathematical problems would be
more desirable than the philosopher's stone, vainly sought by the
alchemists. Such rules would work magic; but there is no such thing as
magic. To find unfailing rules applicable to all sorts of problems is
an philosophical dream; but this dream will never be more than a
dream."

Dijkstra

"Lembro-me de estar caminhando com Ria enquanto éramos noivos - foi
perto da Estação Central de Amsterdã - quando expliquei a ela que eu
queria ser contente e feliz com meus olhos completamente abertos, sem
me enganar com a crença de que vivíamos num mundo cor-de-rosa: estar
feliz de viver no completo conhecimento de toda miséria, inclusive a
nossa..."

-Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, EWD447 - On the Role of Scientific Thought

A real Arcádia

Voltando para casa, vi uma garota sentada na sombra de uma árvore, perto do portão da universidade, um livro numa mão, uma maçã na outra.

Existe cena mais idílica do que, em pleno Brasil, depois de estupros, depois do caos, alguém ainda relaxar e conseguir desfrutar de tal tranquilidade? Essa é a real Arcádia.