[via SlashDot] Edsger Wybe Dijkstra has died after a lengthy struggle with cancer.

Dijkstra was notorious for his wit, eloquence, and way with words, such as in his remark "The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim"; his advice to a promising researcher, who asked how to select a topic for research: "Do only what only you can do"; and his remark in his Turing Award lecture "In their capacity as a tool, computers will be but a ripple on the surface of our culture. In their capacity as intellectual challenge, they are without precedent in the cultural history of mankind."

I know that my professors at the University of Waterloo tried to hammer the complexities of real-time programming into my thick head, and that only real-world experience taught me how it actually works. For those of you that don't remember, Dijkstra deveolped the p & v notation for describing locks on resources. Every time you write or use code that handles resource locks (like Radio does) you are using stuff developed by Dijkstra. Thank God he didn't patent any of it!

Dijkstra was a prodigious writer. His entire collection of over thirteen hundred written works was digitally scanned and is accessible at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD. He also corresponded regularly with hundreds of friends and colleagues over the years --not by email but by conventional post. He strenuously preferred the fountain pen to the computer in producing his scholarly output and letters.

Amen. I'll take my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck and a notebook filled with creamy paper over a laptop for scribbling ideas any day. Rest in peace Edsger.