Derek Sorensen

E. W. Djisktra Diskjtra Diskra Dijkstra

According to Dijkstra, he was the first professional Computer Programmer in Holland (PDF), although at the time of his marriage he wasn’t allowed to call himself a programmer, and hence his marriage certificate read “Theoretical Physicist”.

In programming circles - particularly among geeky, pretentious programmers like me - Dijkstra is almost - but not quite - as well quoted as Knuth. In this blog, I will share some of my favourite and not so favourite Dijkstra quotes, and offer my own interpretation of them. I don’t know if this will be boring for anyone who isn’t a programmer, or even for those who are, but hey - you run it up the flagpole in the hope that someone salutes, right?

On the off-chance that there are some people reading who aren’t turned off by it, I’d welcome any comments - positive and negative - of my interpretation of the Great Man’s words. Ok, here goes.
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You can observe a lot by watching
 – Yogi Berra

I’ve always loved quotations. Some time ago I began to come across sayings attributed to Yogi Berra. Always short, always thought provoking, often obscure but always with a Zen quality.
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