Concepts

Structured Programming

Paradigm

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Structured Programming." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/structured-programming.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Structured Programming. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/structured-programming

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-structured-programming,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Structured Programming},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/structured-programming},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Structured programming is a programming paradigm characterized by source code that uses block based structure to encode control flow: sequencing, selection and iteration in place of arbitrary jumps. Edsger W. Dijkstra coined the term, and his 1968 open letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful made the case that unrestricted jumps make programs impossible to reason about; the structured program theorem supplies the theoretical basis that the three structured forms suffice.

Facts

Origin Year

1968 1

The year of Dijkstra's open letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful; the term structured programming is his coinage.

Core Principle

Compose programs only from sequence, choice and repetition, each with one entry and one exit, so that the text of a program tracks what it does. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Edsger W. Dijkstra

Dijkstra coined the term and led the movement; his 1972 Turing Award cites this advocacy.

Source Wikipedia: Structured Programming

Edsger W. Dijkstra

Edsger Dijkstra's 1968 letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful argued against unrestricted goto statements and is the founding document of the structured programming movement.

Source Wikipedia: Edsger W. Dijkstra