Edsger Wybe Dijkstra: His Life, Work, and Legacy

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930-2002) was one of the most influential researchers in the history of computer science, making fundamental contributions to both the theory and practice of computing. Early in his career, he proposed the single-source shortest path algorithm, now commonly referred to as Dijkstra's algorithm. He wrote (with Jaap Zonneveld) the first ALGOL 60 compiler, and designed and implemented with his colleagues the influential THE operating system. Dijkstra invented the field of concurrent algorithms, with concepts such as mutual exclusion, deadlock detection, and synchronization. A prolific writer and forceful proponent of the concept of structured programming, he convincingly argued against the use of the Go To statement. In 1972 he was awarded the ACM Turing Award for "fundamental contributions to programming as a high, intellectual challenge; for eloquent insistence and practical demonstration that programs should be composed correctly, not just debugged into correctness; for illuminating perception of problems at the foundations of program design." Subsequently he invented the concept of self-stabilization relevant to fault-tolerant computing. He also devised an elegant language for nondeterministic programming and its weakest precondition semantics, featured in his influential 1976 book A Discipline of Programming in which he advocated the development of programs in concert with their correctness proofs. In the later stages of his life, he devoted much attention to the development and presentation of mathematical proofs, providing further support to his long-held view that the programming process should be viewed as a mathematical activity.

In this unique new book, 31 computer scientists, including five recipients of the Turing Award, present and discuss Dijkstra's numerous contributions to computing science and assess their impact. Several authors knew Dijkstra as a friend, teacher, lecturer, or colleague. Their biographical essays and tributes provide a fascinating multi-author picture of Dijkstra, from the early days of his career up to the end of his life.

艾德斯格·韋伯·迪科斯特拉（Edsger Wybe Dijkstra，1930-2002）是計算機科學史上最具影響力的研究者之一，對計算機理論和實踐都做出了基礎性的貢獻。在他的職業生涯早期，他提出了單源最短路徑算法，現在通常稱為迪科斯特拉算法。他與雅普·佐內費爾德（Jaap Zonneveld）合著了第一個ALGOL 60編譯器，並與同事們設計並實現了具有影響力的THE操作系統。迪科斯特拉創立了並發算法領域，提出了互斥、死鎖檢測和同步等概念。作為一位多產的作家和結構化編程概念的堅定倡導者，他堅決反對使用Go To語句。1972年，他因為對編程的基礎性貢獻而獲得了ACM圖靈獎，該獎項表彰他對編程作為一項高度智力挑戰的基礎性貢獻，以及他堅持並實際證明程序應該被正確地組合而不僅僅是調試到正確性的優雅堅持，以及他對程序設計基礎問題的深刻洞察力。隨後，他提出了與容錯計算相關的自穩定概念。他還設計了一種優雅的非確定性編程語言及其最弱前置條件語義，這些內容在他的具有影響力的1976年著作《編程學的一門學科》中得到了展示，他在該書中主張應該與正確性證明一起開發程序。在他生命的後期，他致力於數學證明的發展和呈現，進一步支持他長期以來將編程過程視為數學活動的觀點。

在這本獨特的新書中，包括五位圖靈獎得主在內的31位計算機科學家介紹並討論了迪科斯特拉在計算機科學中的眾多貢獻，並評估了它們的影響。幾位作者是迪科斯特拉的朋友、老師、講師或同事。他們的傳記文章和致敬為我們提供了一個迪科斯特拉的多作者形象，從他職業生涯的早期到生命的結束。