As mkempe notes, it's probably a generational thing. When I started studying software engineering in 1977 he was the most prominent figure in the books my city

As mkempe notes, it's probably a generational thing. When I started studying software engineering in 1977 he was the most prominent figure in the books my city's college library had, I learned a lot back then from him and it's still generally relevant, although of course superseded as we figured out more things about the practice of software development ... or forgot rather a lot that had been learned back then.