从Dijkstra的图灵奖演讲论科技创业者特点

目录

1 The Humble Programmer

2 科技创业者特点

---

各位读者，看到Dijkstra，是否觉得特别熟悉？是不是想到了Dijkstra最短路径，​GOTO有害论，信号量和PV原语，银行家算法，哲学家就餐问题？今天从谦卑的程序员谈起，和科技创业者聊聊，一起思考谦卑如何让我们做好科技创业工作。

 

图片来源：The humble programmer | ACM Turing award lectures

也可以访问


E.W.Dijkstra Archive: The Humble Programmer (EWD 340)

1 The Humble Programmer

图灵奖获得者荷兰计算机学家Edsger Wybe Dijkstra在1972年8月14日的获奖演说“谦卑的程序员”(The Humble Programmer)中，探讨了程序员心理与计算机编程之间的关系。 Dijkstra一直强调，编程的本质任务就是驾驭计算机科学的极端复杂性。他认为编程是唯一要求掌握最底层到最高层的9个数量级上细节差异的人类活动。演说中他肯定了Fortran,Algol, LISP等语言，而对于PL/I，他认为是失败的。他在演说中强调如何建立可靠的软件，如何在编程时就尽力避免引入错误，而不是以后再去消除错误，这不单是具有技术上的意义，而且在经济上十分重要。狄克斯特拉的上述观点赢得了愈来愈多的人的理解和支持。在五十年后的今天，很多见解仍然是真知灼见。

图片来源：Edsger Dijkstra quote: The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited...

Dijkstra因为最早指出“goto是有害的”以及首创结构化程序设计而闻名于世。他对计算机科学的贡献非常广泛，在程序设计技术、算法和算法理论、编译器和操作系统诸多方面都有很多创造。他发表的题为“智力低下的程序员”(The Humble Programmer)的图灵奖演说，刊于Communicationof ACM，1973年10月，859~866页。也可见于《前20年的ACM图灵奖演说集》(ACM Turing Award Lectures-The First 20 Years:1966-1985, ACMPr.)17~32页。

下面是重要的一些言论。

• Those who want really reliable software will discover that they must find a means of avoiding the majority of bugs to start with, and as a result the programming process will become cheaper.

• We should confine ourselves to intellectually manageable programs.

• We must not forget that it is not our business to make programs; it is our business to design classes of computations that will display a desired behaviour.

• It is a usual technique to make a program and then to test it. But: program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of bugs, but it is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence.

• The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.

• The question: "Can you code this in less symbols?" or, "Guess what it does?" - as if this were of any conceptual relevance!

• As long as machines were the largest item in the budget, the programming profession could get away with its clumsy techniques.

• As a result of a long sequence of coincidences I entered the programming profession officially on the first spring morning of 1952, and as far as I have been able to trace, I was the first Dutchman to do so in my country.

• We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people: sometimes they follow it!

• The major cause [of the software crisis] is that the machines have become several orders of magnitude more powerful! To put it quite bluntly: as long as there were no machines, programming was no problem at all; when we had a few weak computers, programming became a mild problem, and now we have gigantic computers, programming has become an equally gigantic problem. In this sense the electronic industry has not solved a single problem, it has only created them, it has created the problem of using its products.

• FORTRAN's tragic fate has been its wide acceptance, mentally chaining thousands and thousands of programmers to our past mistakes.

• LISP has been jokingly described as "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.

• When FORTRAN has been called an infantile disorder, full PL/1, with its growth characteristics of a dangerous tumor, could turn out to be a fatal disease.

• If you want more effective programmers, you will discover that they should not waste their time debugging, they should not introduce the bugs to start with.

• Program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of bugs, but it is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence.

  • Compare more succinct phrasings cited above.

• The effective exploitation of his powers of abstraction must be regarded as one of the most vital activities of a competent programmer.

2 科技创业者特点

关于技术人创业，我曾写过

【脑洞大开】什么样的程序员适合创业？_苹果二的博客-CSDN博客

关于寻找怎样的技术人才，我写过 【脑洞大开】创业的知识型企业如何招贤纳士？_苹果二的博客-CSDN博客。

观察对比身边成功和失败两类科技创业工作者，我有以下一些体会，供大家参考。

• 不满足于做出东西的快感，而是考虑作品如何带来真正的价值，如何帮助到真正需要的企业和人们。

 

 

图片来源：Value Equation | University of Utah Health

• 不要只满足于技术层面的实现，要把产品理念和服务理念写到灵魂里去。

图片来源：Service Word Written By 3d Man Stock Photo | Royalty-Free | FreeImages

• 把做技术的荣耀放在脑后吧，如果作品卖不出去，只是一堆无用的废物。学会去销售自己，学会注重市场和销售。

图片来源：Spectra Hospitality Services - Service Provider of Support Services & Initial Investigation from Gurgaon

• 如果没有足够的商业和管理能力自己折腾，还是打工被人养吧，因为总会有人会养技术的。

图片来源：Quotes Making Mistakes At Work. QuotesGram

 

图片来源：Creating Value For Customers – The Good and The Bad

愿大家不断努力，做出作品，持续创造价值。

我自己是技术开发和技术管理出身，在折腾和探索中持续思考和确定创业创新的方向，欢迎大家留言交流。