Edsger W. Dijkstra

1969

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, född 11 maj 1930, död 6 augusti 2002, var en teoretisk fysiker samt datorvetare från Nederländerna som framförallt är känd för sin algoritm för att hitta kortaste vägen i en graf, samt artikeln GOTO Statement Considered Harmful (http://www.acm.org/classics/oct95/).

Mottog även Turingpriset 1972, samt har ett pris uppkallat efter sig; Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing (http://www.podc.org/dijkstra/).

Citat

"APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums."
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
"I mean, if 10 years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualize that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself: 'Dijkstra would not have liked this', well that would be enough immortality for me."
"Teaching BASIC should be a criminal offense."
"It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration."
"Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer."
"Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California."
"The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim."
"Lisp has jokingly been called 'the most intelligent way to misuse a computer'. I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts."
"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence."

EWD Archive (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/)
Biografi och dödsruna: [1] (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/UTCS/notices/dijkstra/ewdobit.html) (död länk), [2] (http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:0Zn6qdokapgJ:www.cs.utexas.edu/users/UTCS/notices/dijkstra/ewdobit.html+ewdobit&hl=en) (Googlecache)
Skärmdump av Google (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~cristian/google.jpg)