The computing scientist's main challenge is not to get confused by the complexities of his own making.
The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world's richest source of rewarding challenges.
Beware of "the real world". A speaker's apeal to it is always an invitation not to challenge his tacit assumptions.
I would therefore like to posit that computing's central challenge, how not to make a mess of it, has not yet been met.
In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of mankind.
Some consider the puzzles that are created by their omissions as spicy challenges, without which their texts would be boring; others shun clarity lest their work is considered trivial.
