On 7-10-2009 10:19, Invisible wrote:
>>> Dikjstra's shunting algorithm
>>
>> Why don't you learn that Dijkstra is with an 'ij' that is a single 
>> vowel in Dutch and actually should be a ligature in print, but this is 
>> just another example of how the Americans have destroyed a culture.
> 
> ...he was Dutch?

yes, and we have gone over this already a few times.

> Well, THAT explains why the hell I can't even say his name out loud, 
> never mind spell it. :-P

as for pronunciation try dike-strah http://forvo.com/word/dijkstra/ 
gives one pronunciation, I would probably rendered it slightly different 
for an international audience.
Here is another attempt including his first names 
http://badibulgator.free.fr/Dijkstra.wav

> Apparently he was quite clever though. I only know about him because he 
> apparently invented an algorithm for turning a series of expression 
> tokens into an actual expression tree...

You should also know him because I mentioned him a few times here. He 
did a lot of work in concurrent programming (e.g. the P and V 
operation). IIRC he (or his team) implemented the first interrupt 
routines. He did a lot on designing programs from specification. Many of 
the algorithms he is most commonly known for were originally just 
examples of how to derive a program from a specification. You need more 
proof that thinking about your algorithm and documenting it might lead 
to new insights?

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