The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by PaulRobinson on Sunday November 09, 2025 @11:28AM (#45866723)

I once had one of his quote on the back of my business card when I was doing a lot of software dev consultancy: "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes".

I keep meaning to sit down with this site and make my way through it all. Might make more progress if I grab them into an eReader-friendly format and then peruse them more easily when travelling.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by ajdoingnothing on Sunday November 09, 2025 @01:48PM (#45868009)

Astronomy is not named "Telescope Science" though. ;-)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by psychoslave on Sunday November 09, 2025 @03:56PM (#45869103)

In Europe Informatics is more common than CS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by drob518 on Sunday November 09, 2025 @02:40PM (#45868477)

You’re only half serious, but this is actually a good point.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by PaulRobinson on Monday November 10, 2025 @11:17AM (#45877428)

That's his point: "Computer Science" is a poor name for that area of study.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra by GrumpyYoungMan on Sunday November 09, 2025 @03:38PM (#45868944)

The problem with that quote is that all of us reading this are telescope operators, not astronomers. The quantity and quality of our telescope photos is what we are paid for so we have no choice but to know our chosen brand of telescope inside and out.

[ Parent | on HN ]