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The manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra (2014)
- kartayyar 10y agoI had the good fortune of listening to Dijstra speak a few times. The first time I attended one of his talks, I thought it would be a brilliant though highly theoretical presentation. What amazed me the most was just how funny he was - and given how soft spoken he was. When you read about Dijkstra in the third person, that entire part of his personality is lost. His talks tended to drift and meander, though at the end of his talks, he gave a small sermon which is very applicable to just about any programming endeavour: "If you find yourself doing something and thinking Dijkstra would not have liked this, that would be immortality enough for me." He's been quoted for saying that multiple times, though that was the first time I heard it, and by virtue of listening to it first hand, it's burnt into my head.
- mrg3_2013 10y agoThanks for sharing the quote. I haven't heard of that before. “I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.” — Banksy May the Dijkstra's in us leave forever.
- tomcam 10y agoDon't be afraid to dive into any of these papers. He's one of the most accessible of the computing greats.