Dijkstra argues that tools do more than help people complete tasks: they also shape how people approach problems. Repeated use can make certain methods feel natural, while alternatives become less familiar. His point is that such habits can influence both how people think and which problems they are equipped to solve.

The word “devious” suggests that this influence may be indirect or difficult to notice. In the surrounding essay, he criticises programming languages and their effects on programmers. His concern is therefore not simply whether a tool works, but what intellectual habits its use encourages.

A practical reading is to assess tools by both their immediate usefulness and the thinking they support. It invites users to question whether a familiar method suits the problem, rather than automatically reshaping every problem to fit that method. The emphasis is on recognising these influences rather than assuming tools are neutral aids.