In earlier versions of the joke below, the computer scientist was a mathematician.
On Nov 6, 2007 7:13 PM, Devon McCormick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm aware of his contributions to computer science but he did not program > - > writing down algorithms with pen and paper is fine and useful but it > avoids > the nitty-gritty problems of actual programming. > > >From Wikipedia: Dijkstra was also noted for owning only one computer > (late > in life) and rarely actually using them, in keeping with his conviction > that > computer science was more abstract than mere programming... > > He expresses the disdain for the practical difficulties of actually > getting > a program to work correctly that is all too common in computer science. > At > the recent APL conference, a (non-CS) college professor told me that a > computer science student in his class argued that he should get a passing > grade for his computer program because it ran to completion - never mind > that his answer was off by orders of magnitude. That same day, another > (non-CS) professor also mentioned to me how the CS students were usually > bad > programmers. > > There's an old joke that goes like this: in three adjacent rooms of a > hotel > are sleeping an engineer, a physicist, and a computer scientist. In each > of > the rooms, a fire breaks out in the waste basket near the bed. > > The engineer wakes up, sees the fire, and pours a pitcher of water on it > to > put it out. Just to be on the safe side, he refills the pitcher and > douses > the ashes. > > The physicist wakes up, sees the fire, calculates from his estimate of the > heat being produced just exactly how much water he needs to pour on the > flames, pours this amount and douses the flames. > > The computer scientist wakes up, sees the fire, sees the pitcher of water > by > his bed, decides it is a solvable problem, and goes back to sleep. > > None of this detracts from the fact that Dijkstra was right about GOTO > being > harmful. One of the things I originally liked about APL was how it > avoided > much unnecessary looping - probably the branch arrow was chosen because it > was the simplest, most general construct and it was often not necessary. > > On 11/6/07, Boyko Bantchev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On Nov 6, 2007 6:03 PM, Devon McCormick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I find it interesting that he talked a lot about the practice of > > > programming but did not do it; this might help explain his blind spot > > > toward APL. > > > > He did practise a lot. > > > > In his younger years, Dijkstra was one of the (two) creators > > of the very first compiler of Algol 60 (after being one of the > > designers of that language), and led the design and creation > > of the very influential ``T.H.E.'' operating system. > > > > Although his later work is not directly related with > > large-scale programming, it contains lots of small but far > > from trivial algorithms which he wrote mostly in a pseudocode > > notation of his own. > > > > > > -- > Devon McCormick, CFA > ^me^ at acm. > org is my > preferred e-mail > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Use Reply-To: & thread your email after the first: or it may take a while, as I get 2000 emails per day. -- Roy A. Crabtree UNC '76 gaa.lifer# (For TN contact, email me to set up a confirmed date/time) voicemail inbound only [When you hear/read/see/feel what a y*ehudi plays/writes/sculpts/holds] [(n)either violinist {Menuhin} (n)or writer {"The Y*ehudi Principle"} (n)or molder (n)or older] [you must strive/think/look/sense all of it, or you will miss the meanings of it all] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Forwards only to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: auto to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Be short < 160 chars cuts off; currently offline [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: auto to ^ http://www.authorsden.com/royacrabtree http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/activex/720/resume/full.doc -- (c) RAC/IP, ARE,PRO,PAST (Copyright) Roy Andrew Crabtree/In Perpetuity All Rights/Reserved Explicitly Public Reuse Only Profits Always Safe Traded ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
