On Structured Programming

Abstract

The term structured programming (hereafter abbreviated sp) has been used with many different meanings since Edsger W. Dijkstra first coined the term. Actually, the term appeared in the title of his monograph Notes on structured programming [Dijkstra 72d*], but as far as I can determine not in the monograph itself! The lack of a precise definition has allowed, even encouraged, people to use it as they wished, to attribute to sp what they themselves learned from reading Notes on structured programming, however different this might have been from Dijkstra’s intent. Taken out of context or viewed in the wrong light, some of the resulting definitions of sp that have appeared in the literature seem stupid (e.g., sp is programming without gotos), and it is quite understandable that programmers have looked askance when asked to learn and practice it. The matter has gotten so out of hand that some programmers and managers feel that sp is an attempt to “deskill” the profession—to put so many restrictions on the programmer that his task becomes trivial and can be performed by almost any person.