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Edsger Dijkstra interview

Hans Otten · 34.9K views · 2018-02-27 · 24:05

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Overview

A 24-minute interview with Edsger Dijkstra, the Dutch computer scientist, including his views on writing programs by hand and keeping errors out of them. It is part of a longer Dutch TV interview.

On Hacker News

Shared as a primary source for Dijkstra's views, such as his approach to writing code on paper.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2023–2024

Topics

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What people said

ZoomZoomZoom · 2023-10 · Recommendation

Any discussion of handwritten code is incomplete without mentioning Edsger Dijkstra's approach, demonstrated in this beautiful interview: [VIDEO] I'm surprised no one has mentioned it here yet.

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rednab · 2024-02 · Reference

[VIDEO] The Dutch language quote as displayed: "We mogen niet uit nonchalance fouten in een programma aanbrengen. Dat moeten we systematisch en met zorg doen.". Feel free to run that through your favorite translator. The subtitles: "We should not introduce errors through sloppiness but systematically keep them out." The translator missed a very dry and very Dijkstra joke.

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eesmith · 2024-01 · Reference

You can see the vehicle at [VIDEO] . He and his wife are driving to some sort of camping area. It's part of a longer interview with him. He also does crossword puzzles.

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Sources

Video by Hans Otten, played through YouTube.

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