Classic programming meme revives Dijkstra-style shade at FORTRAN, BASIC, and COBOL

PrasoonPratham · x · 2026-07-24

A classic programming meme resurfaced: Dijkstra’s old-school shade at languages like FORTRAN, PL/I, BASIC, and COBOL lands as a joke about how programmers love declaring other languages hopeless.

The attached image is the quote itself, presenting a very sharp, ironic critique of legacy languages and teaching styles that still works as a tech-culture meme today.

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