<story><title>A commemoration of Edsger Dijkstra [pdf]</title><url>https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/commemoration/EWD-commemoration-2021.pdf</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>doesnotexist</author><text>Dijkstra had a unique format for his undergraduate class where the entire grade basically came down to an interview at the end of the semester. During which he asked you to work out a solution to a problem in front of him one on one.  A friend had the most memorable interaction with him during the interview&amp;#x2F;final exam.  Dijkstra explained the problem and they began furiously writing out a solution in pencil getting a few lines into the proof before realizing they had made a mistake and began to erase what was written. Dijkstra responded &amp;quot;tsk tsk tsk, you are a rash mathematician&amp;quot; and advised the student to &amp;quot;Use a pen instead of pencil it will encourage you to spend more time with your thoughts before writing.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;A couple years later I saw a quote that reminded me of that interaction and it goes
“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 &amp;quot;Dijkstra would not have liked this&amp;quot;, well, that would be enough immortality for me.”&lt;p&gt;Dijkstra&amp;#x27;s ghost haunts us all.</text></comment>
<story><title>A commemoration of Edsger Dijkstra [pdf]</title><url>https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/commemoration/EWD-commemoration-2021.pdf</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tomcam</author><text>Lovely. My favorite is by Klaus Wirth. One passage:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Occasionally he used a long “reading pipe”, until once, deep in thought, he bumped it into a door and hurt himself in the throat. Then he switched to cigarettes.</text></comment>