本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛转载自csdn
2002年8月8日，我象往常一样查看自己在extremeprogramming电子小组上订阅的newsletter。突然看到这个小组上的稀客、OO教父Grady Booch的发言，题目是Dijkstra。我以为大家在讨论Dijkstra教授提出的什么难题，定睛一看，才知道是一篇类似生平介绍式的讣告——在与癌症进行了多年的斗争之后，伟大的荷兰计算机科学家Edsger Wybe Dijkstra已经于2002年8月6日在荷兰Nuenen自己的家中与世长辞！终年72岁。
原来如此！
这个Dijkstra，就是那个提出“goto有害论”的Dijkstra，就是那个提出信号量和PV原语，解决了有趣的“哲学家聚餐”问题的Dijkstra，那个Dijkstra最短路径算法的创造者，第一个Algol 60编译器的设计者和实现者，THE操作系统的设计者和开发者，那个与D. E. Knuth并称为我们这个时代最伟大的计算机科学家的人。
阿兰图灵的自杀是在办个世纪之前，冯诺依曼去世也已经多年，作为这个相对新兴的行当中的从业者，我们似乎已经很习惯于从相信，从书上读到的每个名字都是仍然在世的活生生的人，都是我们这个时代的骄傲。无论是仍然健硕的D. E. Knuth，Fred Brooks，Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, 还是正当盛年的Bjarne Stroustrup，Grady Booch，Steve McConnell, Andy Koenig, Robert Martin, Kent Becker, Martin Fowler, James Gosling, 再或者是青春年少，意气风发的Linus Trovalds，Andrei Alexandrescu，我们似乎都习惯于认为，只要一封email，这些书本上的名字就会立刻成为你的朋友。Internet把地球变成了一个大村庄，每个人的距离都那么的近。
但是可惜，Internet却无法缩短跨越生与死的冥界。今天，一颗真正的巨星在我们的眼前陨落！作为一名普通的程序员，我从内心感到惋惜和悲痛。这种悲痛，两年半前在我最初得知Richard Stevens的逝世时，也曾感受过，然而却不如今天来得这么强烈。毕竟，当我对编程还是懵懵懂懂的时候，就知道有个叫Dijkstra的人劝告大家不要滥用goto，而在那之前，goto在我看来就是编程的全部奥秘所在。之后我在学习算法、数据结构、操作系统等课程的时候，Dijkstra这个名字一次又一次从书里跳出来，我对于这个名字的崇敬也越来越深。我知道他晚年疯狂的迷恋C++，这也几乎是我这个C++ Fan所能感受到的最大荣幸。我曾想过，有朝一日，我会给他写一封email，什么也不说，只想表达我个人对他的感谢和敬意。没想到，如今连这个机会也没有了！
Dijkstra引导了并且将继续引导这个星球上所有的程序员，他的贡献和影响将与世长存，让我们祝他安息！
【附】Grady Booch对Dijkstra的介绍
Professor Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, a noted pioneer of the science and
industry of computing, died after a long struggle with cancer on 6
August 2002 at his home in Nuenen, the Netherlands.
Dijkstra was born in 1930 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the son of a
chemist father and a mathematician mother. He graduated from the
Gymnasium Erasmianum in Rotterdam and obtained degrees in mathematics
and theoretical physics from the University of Leyden and a Ph.D. in
computing science from the University of Amsterdam. He worked as a
programmer at the Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1952-62; was
professor of mathematics, Eindhoven University of Technology,
1962-1984; and was a Burroughs Corporation research fellow, 1973-1984.
He held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computing Sciences at the
University of Texas at Austin, 1984-1999, and retired as Professor
Emeritus in 1999.
Dijkstra is survived by his wife of over forty years, Maria (Ria) C.
Dijkstra Debets, by three children, Marcus J., Femke E., and computer
scientist Rutger M. Dijkstra, and by two grandchildren.
Dijkstra was the 1972 recipient of the ACM Turing Award, often viewed
as the Nobel Prize for computing. He was a member of the Netherlands
Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and a Distinguished Fellow of the British
Computer Society. He received the 1974 AFIPS Harry Goode Award, the
1982 IEEE Computer Pioneer Award, and the 1989 ACM SIGCSE Award for
Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education. Athens
University of Economics awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2001. In
2002, the C&C Foundation of Japan recognized Dijkstra "for his
pioneering contributions to the establishment of the scientific basis
for computer software through creative research in basic software
theory, algorithm theory, structured programming, and semaphores".
Dijkstra is renowned for the insight that mathematical logic is and
must be the basis for sensible computer program construction and for
his contributions to mathematical methodology. He is responsible for
the idea of building operating systems as explicitly synchronized
sequential processes, for the FORMal development of computer programs,
and for the intellectual foundations for the disciplined control of
nondeterminacy. He is well known for his amazingly efficient shortest
path algorithm and for having designed and coded the first Algol 60
compiler. He was famously the leader in the abolition of the GOTO
statement from programming.
Dijkstra was a prodigious writer. His entire collection of over
thirteen hundred written works was digitally scanned and is accessible
at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD. He also corresponded regularly
with hundreds of friends and colleagues over the years --not by email
but by conventional post. He strenuously preferred the fountain pen to
the computer in producing his scholarly output and letters.
Dijkstra was notorious for his wit, eloquence, and way with words,
such as in his remark "The question of whether computers can think is
like the question of whether submarines can swim"; his advice to a
promising researcher, who asked how to select a topic for research:
"Do only what only you can do"; and his remark in his Turing Award
lecture "In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple
on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual
challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of
mankind."
Dijkstra enriched the language of computing with many concepts and
phrases, such as structured programming, separation of concerns,
synchronization, deadly embrace, dining philosophers, weakest
precondition, guarded command, the excluded miracle, and the famous
"semaphores" for controlling computer processes. The Oxford English
Dictionary cites his use of the words "vector" and "stack" in a
computing context.
Dijkstra enjoyed playing Mozart for his friends on his Boesendorfer
piano. He and his wife had a fondness for exploring state and national
parks in their Volkswagen bus, dubbed the Touring Machine, in which he
wrote many technical papers.
Throughout his scientific career, Dijkstra FORMulated and pursued the
highest academic ideals of scientific rigour untainted by commercial,
managerial, or political considerations. Simplicity, beauty, and
eloquence were his hallmarks, and his uncompromising insistence on
elegance in programming and mathematics was an inspiration to
thousands. He judged his own work by the highest standards and set a
continuing challenge to his many friends to do the same. For the rest,
he willingly undertook the role of Socrates, that of a gadfly to
society, repeatedly goading his native and his adoptive country by
remarking on the mistakes inherent in fashionable ideas and the
dangers of time-serving compromises. Like Socrates, his most
significant legacy is to those who engaged with him in small group
discussions or scientific correspondence about half-FORMulated ideas
and emerging discoveries. Particularly privileged are those who
attended his reading groups in Eindhoven and Austin, known as the
"Tuesday Afternoon Clubs".
At Dijkstra's passage, let us recall Phaedo's parting remark about
Socrates: "we may truly say that of all the men of his time whom we
have known, he was the wisest and justest and best."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
2002年8月8日，我象往常一样查看自己在extremeprogramming电子小组上订阅的newsletter。突然看到这个小组上的稀客、OO教父Grady Booch的发言，题目是Dijkstra。我以为大家在讨论Dijkstra教授提出的什么难题，定睛一看，才知道是一篇类似生平介绍式的讣告——在与癌症进行了多年的斗争之后，伟大的荷兰计算机科学家Edsger Wybe Dijkstra已经于2002年8月6日在荷兰Nuenen自己的家中与世长辞！终年72岁。
原来如此！
这个Dijkstra，就是那个提出“goto有害论”的Dijkstra，就是那个提出信号量和PV原语，解决了有趣的“哲学家聚餐”问题的Dijkstra，那个Dijkstra最短路径算法的创造者，第一个Algol 60编译器的设计者和实现者，THE操作系统的设计者和开发者，那个与D. E. Knuth并称为我们这个时代最伟大的计算机科学家的人。
阿兰图灵的自杀是在办个世纪之前，冯诺依曼去世也已经多年，作为这个相对新兴的行当中的从业者，我们似乎已经很习惯于从相信，从书上读到的每个名字都是仍然在世的活生生的人，都是我们这个时代的骄傲。无论是仍然健硕的D. E. Knuth，Fred Brooks，Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, 还是正当盛年的Bjarne Stroustrup，Grady Booch，Steve McConnell, Andy Koenig, Robert Martin, Kent Becker, Martin Fowler, James Gosling, 再或者是青春年少，意气风发的Linus Trovalds，Andrei Alexandrescu，我们似乎都习惯于认为，只要一封email，这些书本上的名字就会立刻成为你的朋友。Internet把地球变成了一个大村庄，每个人的距离都那么的近。
但是可惜，Internet却无法缩短跨越生与死的冥界。今天，一颗真正的巨星在我们的眼前陨落！作为一名普通的程序员，我从内心感到惋惜和悲痛。这种悲痛，两年半前在我最初得知Richard Stevens的逝世时，也曾感受过，然而却不如今天来得这么强烈。毕竟，当我对编程还是懵懵懂懂的时候，就知道有个叫Dijkstra的人劝告大家不要滥用goto，而在那之前，goto在我看来就是编程的全部奥秘所在。之后我在学习算法、数据结构、操作系统等课程的时候，Dijkstra这个名字一次又一次从书里跳出来，我对于这个名字的崇敬也越来越深。我知道他晚年疯狂的迷恋C++，这也几乎是我这个C++ Fan所能感受到的最大荣幸。我曾想过，有朝一日，我会给他写一封email，什么也不说，只想表达我个人对他的感谢和敬意。没想到，如今连这个机会也没有了！
Dijkstra引导了并且将继续引导这个星球上所有的程序员，他的贡献和影响将与世长存，让我们祝他安息！
【附】Grady Booch对Dijkstra的介绍
Professor Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, a noted pioneer of the science and
industry of computing, died after a long struggle with cancer on 6
August 2002 at his home in Nuenen, the Netherlands.
Dijkstra was born in 1930 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the son of a
chemist father and a mathematician mother. He graduated from the
Gymnasium Erasmianum in Rotterdam and obtained degrees in mathematics
and theoretical physics from the University of Leyden and a Ph.D. in
computing science from the University of Amsterdam. He worked as a
programmer at the Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1952-62; was
professor of mathematics, Eindhoven University of Technology,
1962-1984; and was a Burroughs Corporation research fellow, 1973-1984.
He held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computing Sciences at the
University of Texas at Austin, 1984-1999, and retired as Professor
Emeritus in 1999.
Dijkstra is survived by his wife of over forty years, Maria (Ria) C.
Dijkstra Debets, by three children, Marcus J., Femke E., and computer
scientist Rutger M. Dijkstra, and by two grandchildren.
Dijkstra was the 1972 recipient of the ACM Turing Award, often viewed
as the Nobel Prize for computing. He was a member of the Netherlands
Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and a Distinguished Fellow of the British
Computer Society. He received the 1974 AFIPS Harry Goode Award, the
1982 IEEE Computer Pioneer Award, and the 1989 ACM SIGCSE Award for
Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education. Athens
University of Economics awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2001. In
2002, the C&C Foundation of Japan recognized Dijkstra "for his
pioneering contributions to the establishment of the scientific basis
for computer software through creative research in basic software
theory, algorithm theory, structured programming, and semaphores".
Dijkstra is renowned for the insight that mathematical logic is and
must be the basis for sensible computer program construction and for
his contributions to mathematical methodology. He is responsible for
the idea of building operating systems as explicitly synchronized
sequential processes, for the FORMal development of computer programs,
and for the intellectual foundations for the disciplined control of
nondeterminacy. He is well known for his amazingly efficient shortest
path algorithm and for having designed and coded the first Algol 60
compiler. He was famously the leader in the abolition of the GOTO
statement from programming.
Dijkstra was a prodigious writer. His entire collection of over
thirteen hundred written works was digitally scanned and is accessible
at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD. He also corresponded regularly
with hundreds of friends and colleagues over the years --not by email
but by conventional post. He strenuously preferred the fountain pen to
the computer in producing his scholarly output and letters.
Dijkstra was notorious for his wit, eloquence, and way with words,
such as in his remark "The question of whether computers can think is
like the question of whether submarines can swim"; his advice to a
promising researcher, who asked how to select a topic for research:
"Do only what only you can do"; and his remark in his Turing Award
lecture "In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple
on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual
challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of
mankind."
Dijkstra enriched the language of computing with many concepts and
phrases, such as structured programming, separation of concerns,
synchronization, deadly embrace, dining philosophers, weakest
precondition, guarded command, the excluded miracle, and the famous
"semaphores" for controlling computer processes. The Oxford English
Dictionary cites his use of the words "vector" and "stack" in a
computing context.
Dijkstra enjoyed playing Mozart for his friends on his Boesendorfer
piano. He and his wife had a fondness for exploring state and national
parks in their Volkswagen bus, dubbed the Touring Machine, in which he
wrote many technical papers.
Throughout his scientific career, Dijkstra FORMulated and pursued the
highest academic ideals of scientific rigour untainted by commercial,
managerial, or political considerations. Simplicity, beauty, and
eloquence were his hallmarks, and his uncompromising insistence on
elegance in programming and mathematics was an inspiration to
thousands. He judged his own work by the highest standards and set a
continuing challenge to his many friends to do the same. For the rest,
he willingly undertook the role of Socrates, that of a gadfly to
society, repeatedly goading his native and his adoptive country by
remarking on the mistakes inherent in fashionable ideas and the
dangers of time-serving compromises. Like Socrates, his most
significant legacy is to those who engaged with him in small group
discussions or scientific correspondence about half-FORMulated ideas
and emerging discoveries. Particularly privileged are those who
attended his reading groups in Eindhoven and Austin, known as the
"Tuesday Afternoon Clubs".
At Dijkstra's passage, let us recall Phaedo's parting remark about
Socrates: "we may truly say that of all the men of his time whom we
have known, he was the wisest and justest and best."更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net