Re: RIP: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

"While he would have hated Perl"

I can understand why, quoting from LWN for August 8, 2002

"The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly lmited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague."- Edsger W. Dijkstra

Perl is my clever programming trick :-)

Judging by some of the other quotes on the page (esp. the COBOL one) I think I would have liked him. Heres to you Edsger.

--
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. -Margaret Mitchell

Comment on Re: RIP: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RIP: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra by Jacqui (Novice) on Aug 16, 2002 at 14:40 UTC
Larry is a perl God EWD is a^Wthe computer science God - a much bigger realm :-) I obtained a copy of 'A Discipline of Programing' some years ago - was out of print so I payed well over the odds for it. I have to say that unlike almost every other CS book I have read I keep going back to it again and again for inspiration and ideas. It marries the discipline of programming with the art. It makes programming into a science and shows the full beauty of the soliving a problem. It covered non-deterministic systems proving at a time when ND systems were considered an art form and not a science. A book written by someone decades ahead of his time - a programming god if not (IMHO) the programming^WCS god. Jacqui p.s. Everyone should have a copy of this book. Mine was loaned to a member of staff who took it when he left so I will be ordering two more copies RSN. One for me and one for work to waft under junior staffs noses.	[reply]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

RIP: Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
by Jacqui (Novice) on Aug 16, 2002 at 14:40 UTC

I obtained a copy of 'A Discipline of Programing' some years ago - was out of print so I payed well over the odds for it. I have to say that unlike almost every other CS book I have read I keep going back to it again and again for inspiration and ideas.

It marries the discipline of programming with the art. It makes programming into a science and shows the full beauty of the soliving a problem. It covered non-deterministic systems proving at a time when ND systems were considered an art form and not a science.

A book written by someone decades ahead of his time - a programming god if not (IMHO) the programming^WCS god.

Jacqui

p.s. Everyone should have a copy of this book.
Mine was loaned to a member of staff who took it when he left so I will be ordering two more copies RSN. One for me and one for work to waft under junior staffs noses.

[reply]