Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
inference-review.com
Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
1–10 of 229 posts
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#2I read this title and automatically assumed this was going to be about Dijkstra.
While perhaps less directly impactful on the industry, in computer science teaching and academia, there are few names who loom as large as his.
He has touched so many aspects of computer science that we now consider fundamental.
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#3I read this title and automatically assumed this was going to be about Dijkstra. While perhaps less directly impactful on the industry, in computer science teaching and academia, there are few names who loom as large as his. He has touched so many aspects of computer science that we now consider fundamental.
Same here. He's probably the closest thing this field has to a Euler, or maybe an Erdös.
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#4I read this title and automatically assumed this was going to be about Dijkstra. While perhaps less directly impactful on the industry, in computer science teaching and academia, there are few names who loom as large as his. He has touched so many aspects of computer science that we now consider fundamental.
Same here. He's probably the closest thing this field has to a Euler, or maybe an Erdös.
I too thought about EWD!
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#5I read this title and automatically assumed this was going to be about Dijkstra. While perhaps less directly impactful on the industry, in computer science teaching and academia, there are few names who loom as large as his. He has touched so many aspects of computer science that we now consider fundamental.
The whole structured programming practically birthed the industry, so it’s hard to say he has less direct impact in the industry though.
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#6Lots of interesting threads to chase down but this biographical piece was cool:
> together with his wife, he purchased a Volkswagen bus, dubbed the Touring Machine, which they used to explore national parks
Maybe not so surprising for a guy who would not indulge in a vcr, cinema, smartphone or even a computer :) more info would be neat if anyone knows from a longer biographic. Photographer? Bird watcher? Hiker? Camper?
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#7Ok, the first thought reading the title was "ah, surely this is about Dijkstras."
The immediate second thought that came was the famous quote “I don't know how many of you have ever met Dijkstra, but you probably know that arrogance in computer science is measured in nano-Dijkstras”, from Alan Kay should I believe https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/69528-i-don-t-know-how-many...
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#8I recently realized, after talking to a friend of mine who studied Dijkstra's works, that for as much as he was interested in writing correct programs his "Structured Programming" approach makes absolutely zero guarantees on correctess or even verifiability. A program written in a structured way is not inherently more correct nor easier to automatically check for bugs.
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#9I like Dijkstra's quote: "The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim."
Re: Edsger Dijkstra carried computer science on his shoulders (2020)
#10I like Dijkstra's quote: "The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim."
Maybe I'm stupid, but does he mean that as long as the task at hand is solved it doesn't matter how we categorize it. In the submarine case it would be "move through water", for example. Or is it deeper than that?