The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense. — Edsgar Dijkstra

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.

Author: Edsgar Dijkstra

Insight: Dijkstra's jab at COBOL sounds like pure programmer snobbishness until you realize he's making a broader point about how tools reshape our thinking. When you spend years wrestling with a language designed for bureaucratic data processing, you internalize its limitations. You start solving problems the way that language makes easy, not the way that's actually best. It's like learning to write on a typewriter and then struggling with the freedom of a blank page—the tool has become your ceiling. The real insight applies far beyond programming. We're all shaped by the systems we use daily. Social media trains our brains to think in engagement metrics. Email teaches us to think in threads and urgency. Spreadsheets make us see everything as rows and columns. These tools aren't neutral—they're quietly rewiring how we approach problems, what we notice, and what feels possible. That doesn't mean we should abandon useful tools, but it's worth occasionally stepping back and asking: what blind spots has this particular tool created in me? What would I think differently if I approached this problem without it? The best thinkers tend to be tool-switchers, people willing to think in multiple ways rather than letting any single system become their default lens on the world.