On the Foolishness of Natural Language Programming by Edsger W. Dijkstra
Shares rank 28 of 60 articles by recommenders
A short Dijkstra essay arguing that natural language programming is a dead end, and why it is still relevant to vibe coding. People say it is a joy to read and worth the two minutes.
A short Dijkstra essay arguing that natural language programming is a dead end, and why it is still relevant to vibe coding. People say it is a joy to read and worth the two minutes.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Short and worth reading
“It's such a joy to read, and even though it is very short and to the point it says so much”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra” “It is short and worth the 2 minutes.”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “We Mourn Our Craft” Explains why natural language fails
“It really does a good job at explaining why natural language programming (and thus, Vibe Coding) is a dead end.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “A16Z partner says that the theory that we'll vibe code everything is ' wrong'” “As Dijkstra points out in his fantastic essay on the idiocy of natural language”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Open-source Zig book” Relevant to today's vibe coding
“It really does a good job at explaining why natural language programming (and thus, Vibe Coding) is a dead end.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “A16Z partner says that the theory that we'll vibe code everything is ' wrong'” “The most important one in the context of 2025 is this one”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| On the Foolishness of Natural Language Programming by Edsger W. DijkstraThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It sounds sensible provided you blame the obligation to use a formal symbolism as the source of your difficulties.”
“It really does a good job at explaining why natural language programming (and thus, Vibe Coding) is a dead end.”
“It is short and worth the 2 minutes.”
“As Dijkstra points out in his fantastic essay on the idiocy of natural language”
“It's such a joy to read, and even though it is very short and to the point it says so much”
“The most important one in the context of 2025 is this one”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.