Vviewpoints
DOI: 10.1145/1787234.1787249
Interview
An Interview with
edsger W. dijkstra
The computer science luminary, in one of his last interviews
before his death in 2002, reflects on a programmer’s life.
The chARLes BABBAge InstItute holds one of the world’s largest collections of re- search-grade oral history interviews relating to the
history of computers, software, and
networking. Most of the 350 interviews have been conducted in the
context of specific research projects,
which facilitate the interviewer’s extensive preparation and often suggest specific lines of questions. Transcripts from these oral histories are a
key source in understanding the history of computing, since traditional
historical sources are frequently incomplete. This interview with programming pioneer Edsger Dijkstra
(1930–2002) was conducted by CBI
researcher Phil Frana at Dijkstra’s
home in Austin, TX, in August 2001
for a NSF-KDI project on “Building a
Future for Software History.”
PHotoGraPH Courtesy oF tHe unIVersIty oF texas at austIn
Winner of ACM’s A.M. Turing
Award in 1972, Dijkstra is well known
for his contributions to computer
science as well as his colorful assessments of the field. His contributions
to this magazine continue to enrich
new generations of computing scientists and practitioners.
We present this interview posthumously on the eighth anniversary of Dijkstra’s death at age 72 in
August 2002; this interview has been
condensed from the complete transcript, available at http://www.cbi.umn.
edu/oh.
