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1. In 20 years of teaching, I have seen no evidence to support Dijkstra's suggestion that mastery of one's native tongue is of overwhelming importance for programming . I have seen numerous excellent programs written by people whose speech and writin g were almost incoherent . I have also known more than a few eloquent speakers whose programs I discovered to he abysmal . Only if one ignores the programs of people who do not speak or write elegantly, and accepts the claims of elegant speakers withou t question, is one likely to share Dijkstra's views . Mastery of one's language is a big help -both in developing programs and i n communicating what they do . The latter it is essential, but for the former it isn't .