Edsger Dijkstra
 |
Edsger Dijkstra (courtesy Brian Randell) |
Prof Dr
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (
Rotterdam,
May 11,
1930 –
Nuenen,
August 6,
2002;
IPA: ) was a
Dutch computer scientist. He received the 1972
A. M. Turing Award for fundamental contributions in the area of programming languages, and was the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Sciences at
The University of Texas from 1984 until his death in 2002.
Dijkstra studied
theoretical physics at the
University of Leiden, but he quickly realized he was more interested in programming.
Originally employed by the
Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam, he held a professorship at the
Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, worked as a research
fellow for
Burroughs Corporation in the early
1970s, and later held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, in the
United States. He retired in
2000.
Among his contributions to computer science is the
shortest path-algorithm, also known as
Dijkstra's algorithm, the
THE operating system, and the
semaphore construct, for coordinating multiple processors and programs. Another concept due to Dijkstra in the field of distributed computing is that of
self-stabilization - an alternative way to ensure the reliability of the system.
He was also known for his low opinion of the
GOTO statement in
computer programming, culminating in the
1968 article "
A Case against the GO TO Statement" (EWD215), regarded as a major step towards the widespread deprecation of the
GOTO statement and its effective replacement by
structured control constructs such as the
while loop. The paper's more famous title, "Go To Statement
Considered Harmful", was not the work of Dijkstra, but of
Niklaus Wirth, then editor of
Communications of the ACM. Dijkstra was known to be a fan of
ALGOL 60, and worked on the team that implemented the first
compiler for that language. Dijkstra and Jaap Zonneveld, who collaborated on the compiler, agreed not to shave until the project was completed. Zonneveld eventually shaved off his beard; Dijkstra kept his until his death.
From the
1970s, Dijkstra's chief interest was
formal verification. The prevailing opinion at the time was that one should first write a program and then provide a
mathematical proof of
correctness. Dijkstra objected that the resulting proofs are long and cumbersome, and that the proof gives no insight as to how the program was developed. An alternative method is
program derivation, to "develop proof and program hand in hand". One starts with a mathematical
specification of what a program is supposed to do and applies mathematical transformations to the specification until it is turned into a program that can be executed. The resulting program is then known to be
correct by construction. Much of Dijkstra's later work concerns ways to streamline mathematical argument. In a 2001 interview, he stated a desire for "elegance," whereby the correct approach would be to process thoughts mentally, rather than attempt to render them until they are complete. The analogy he made was to contrast the compositional approaches of
Mozart and
Beethoven.
Dijkstra was known for his forthright opinions on programming, and for his habit of carefully composing
manuscripts with his
fountain pen. The manuscripts are called EWDs, since Dijkstra numbered them with
EWD as prefix. Dijkstra would distribute photocopies of a new EWD among his colleagues; as many recipients photocopied and forwarded their copy, the EWDs spread throughout the international computer science community (see EWD1000). The topics are mainly computer science and mathematics, but also include trip reports, letters, and speeches. Many of the more than 1300 EWDs have since been scanned and are
available online.
Dijkstra is also noted for never owning a computer and rarely using one.
He died on
August 6,
2002 after a long struggle with
cancer.
Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish fantasy writer, used Dijkstra's name for one of the main character in the five book "Saga" about
The Hexer.
*
Dijkstra's algorithm*
Dining philosophers problem*"
The Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science"
*
THE multiprogramming system*Edsger Wybe Dijkstra 1930–2002
**
Biography, Digidome**
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930–2002): A Portrait of a Genius (
PDF) Obituary on
Formal Aspects of Computing with a short biography
**
Dijkstra Eulogy by J Strother Moore**
How can we explain Edsger W. Dijkstra to those who didn't know him? by David Gries*Writings by E.W. Dijkstra
*
Go To Statement Considered Harmful,
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 11 (1968) 147–148;
online edition (EWD215)
**
How do we tell truths that might hurt? (EWD498)**
From My Life (EWD166)**
Collected works (including EWDs)*
A Discipline of Programming, Prentice-Hall Series in Automatic Computation, 1976, ISBN 013215871X
*
Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective, Texts and Monographs in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, 1982, ISBN 0387906525
*
A Method of Programming, E.W. Dijkstra, W.H.J. Feijen, J. Sterringa, Addison Wesley 1988, ISBN 0201175363
*
Dutch Pronunciation Guide*
Noorderlicht Interview Video, bandwidth options*
Luca Cardelli's
Font of Dijkstra's Handwriting (as a .zip file)*
Mathmeth.com -- continuing the Dijkstra tradition{{Persondata
NAME=Dijkstra, Edsger | ALTERNATIVE NAMES= | SHORT DESCRIPTION=Danish mathematician | DATE OF BIRTH=May 11, 1930 | PLACE OF BIRTH=Rotterdam | DATE OF DEATH=August 6, 2002 | PLACE OF DEATH=
|
