Hans Otten
1 HN recommender · recommended in 4 months, 2023–2024
24:05 · 35K views · Feb 27, 2018
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.
Shared as a primary source for Dijkstra's views, such as his approach to writing code on paper.
4 comments from Hacker News
Any discussion of handwritten code is incomplete without mentioning Edsger Dijkstra's approach, demonstrated in this beautiful interview: this video I'm surprised no one has mentioned it here yet.
For Dijkstra programming meant to think about a problem, then sit for a few minutes at your desk and write with pen on paper "in one go" the perfect algorithm/program, no bugs, no errors, no corrections, from the first try, and also, in beautiful handwriting. Some kind of idealized way in which Mozart would write his compositions. Whereas "Beethoven was a doubter and a struggler who started writing before he finished the composition and then glued corrections on the paper. In one place he did this nine times. When they peeled them, the last version proved identical to the first one. This iterative method of programming is somehow a very Anglo-Saxon custom. British education is pervaded by it. People learn, when they write, not to try to get it right the first time. Just write what's on your mind and then rewrite repeatedly to get the product you want. That's partly why word processors are marketed so aggressively and partly why they have been so successful there." [1] [1] Edsger Dijkstra interview, this video
this 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.
You can see the vehicle at this 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.