On the foolishness of "natural language programming"
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD667.html

"Machine code, with its absence of almost any form of redundancy, was soon identified as a needlessly risky interface between man and machine. Partly in response to this recognition so-called "high-level programming languages" were developed, and, as time went by, we learned to a certain extent how to enhance the protection against silly mistakes. It was a significant improvement that now many a silly mistake did result in an error message instead of in an erroneous answer. (And even this improvement wasn't universally appreciated: some people found error messages they couldn't ignore more annoying than wrong results, and, when judging the relative merits of programming languages, some still seem to equate "the ease of programming" with the ease of making undetected mistakes.) The (abstract) machine corresponding to a programming language remained, however, a faithful slave, i.e. the nonsensible automaton perfectly capable of carrying out nonsensical instructions. Programming remained the use of a formal symbolism and, as such, continued to require the care and accuracy required before."

Dijkstra On the foolishness of "natural language programming"

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD667.html

Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph #DijkstrasAlgorithmus #Dijkstra #TheShortestPath #Marhs
https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-scientists-establish-the-best-way-to-traverse-a-graph-20241025/

Numbering should start at zero: E.W. Dijkstra

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html

»"Perhaps a temporary moratorium on beginning articles with references to software crises or Garmisch might help to push work on the history of programming out of the intellectual eddy in which it seems to be in danger of getting caught. To borrow a formulation with which readers of this literature are surely familiar, we may conclude that without real social histories of computer science and of programming practice the following warning is appropriate: “Quoting #Dijkstra considered harmful.”«

Nikolaus #Wirth considered harmful (for the "letters to the editor" sent-in by Edsger W. #dijkstra

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1308.PDF

Would you do a premature optimization?

Edsger #Dijkstra
The Man Who Carried Computer Science on His Shoulders

https://inference-review.com/article/the-man-who-carried-computer-science-on-his-shoulders

Today I had an all-day seminar about "Code Critic" at MeWi Uni Bonn. I organized the talks of the students as a symposium. The last talk was about the #GOTO controversy that started in the end of the 1960s with a rant from Edsger W. #Dijkstra and lasts until today. The student's talk ended with a self-made meme.

#Dijkstra's writing is full of gems

The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim

Applying Dijkstra's Algorithm to the similar artists network of Metal Archives

Finding the "shortest" path based on vote counts including the strongest connection, least clicks, and fewest votes connections.

#dijkstra #metal #dataviz #python

https://metalstats.wordpress.com/2024/12/12/shortest-path-between-similar-bands-using-dijkstras-algorithm-on-the-similar-artists-network/

I keep running into a quote, supposedly by Edsger Dijkstra, "Object-oriented programming an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California". Now, I enjoy this witty little aphorism, but for the life of me I can't find any source for it - it literally only seems to exist as a quote people use and attribute to him. Anyone got a clue?

Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph
— Quanta Magazine

｢ Dijkstra credited his algorithm’s enduring appeal in part to its unusual origin story. “Without pencil and paper you are almost forced to avoid all avoidable complexities,” he said ｣

https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-scientists-establish-the-best-way-to-traverse-a-graph-20241025/

Somebody really loves their synchronisation primitives. #Dijkstra

Dijkstra's algorithm, one of the most brilliant and elegant algorithm ever.

(Dijkstra was born on this day, in 1930)

Stand van zaken volgens bureau #Dijkstra & #vanZwol #formatie voor @DeGroene

#D66 heeft diep in haar krochten moeten duiken om nog een lid te vinden dat voor een kort poosje minister wil worden. En ja hoor pleegzuster Bloedwijn Pia #Dijkstra bleek haar leven nog niet voltooid te vinden. Ze moet gedacht hebben dat een #ministerschap best aardig staat op je #CV mocht je daarna ergens een #commissariaatje willen meepikken.