Cold Warprogramming languagessoftware engineeringalgorithms

Edsger W. Dijkstra

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, mathematician, and science essayist

1930 – 2002NetherlandsContribution: 1968

Introduction

Edsger W. Dijkstra (1930-2002) was a Dutch computer scientist and mathematician. He made significant contributions to the field of computer science, particularly in the areas of algorithms, programming languages, and software engineering. Dijkstra is known for his development of the shortest path algorithm and his influential work on structured programming and concurrency control.

Key Achievement

Made advances in algorithms; pioneered and coined the term structured programming; invented the semaphore; famously suggested that the GOTO statement should be considered harmful

Biography

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, mathematician, and science essayist.

Notable Works

Dijkstra's algorithm

Other

smoothsort

Other

banker's algorithm

Other

shunting-yard algorithm

Other

Did You Know?

Adriaan van Wijngaarden offered him a job as the first computer programmer in the Netherlands at the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam, where he worked from 1952 until 1962.
He formulated and solved the shortest path problem in 1956, and in 1960 developed the first compiler for the programming language ALGOL 60 in conjunction with colleague Jaap A.