Was Dijkstra Obnoxious

Evidence that Dijkstra was widely acknowledged as obnoxious (from http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~szegedy/dijkstra.html, the first of 298 google hits on "+Edsger +Dijkstra +obnoxious"):

"Opinions, different than his, met with his greatest disapproval, and he related to them in a famously obnoxious manner. He found his own convictions so compelling he was not even willing to argue for them." - Mario Szegedy

From http://www.majid.info/mylos/weblog/2002/08/08-1.html:

"Edsger Dijkstra,best known as the curmudgeonly Dutchman who advocated banning the goto statement, was a pioneering computer scientist who invented, among his many contributions, the algorithm which bears his name to find the shortest path in a graph and which is the basis for routing in the Internet."

EwDijkstra is claimed to be the GrumpiestComputerScientistInTheWorld, evidenced by his AnswersToQuestionsFromStudentsOfSoftwareEngineering.

Objections to the EmpiricalEvidence uncovered so far

Without doubt, Dijkstra, as evidenced even by the paper trail at ACM, left many people with a grudge for his unusual conviction and bluntness. But isn't it just a little bit ridiculous to conclude on this basis that Dijkstra is "widely acknowledged" to have been obnoxious in person?

Can anyone find some anecdotes to illustrate how Dijkstra behaved in person?

Most articles I've found (like http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/memorial/newsletterarticle.pdf and http://lwn.net/Articles/6993/) portray him as more tolerant and jovial than he comes across in some of his more acerbic writing. -- EH

Objections to asking the question

Let's just drop this comedy lest we disgrace this wiki, shall we?

The title of this page is a question. The initial content doesn't claim that his obnoxiousness was "widely acknowledged" (that phrase was taken from your challenge on LanguageTypeErrorsDiscussion). All we have is the question and one piece of evidence that Dijkstra's obnoxiousness was famous. I see no disgrace in that. -- EricHodges

Oh, but there are millions and millions of questions that we can burn our gray cells with, aren't there? Even this one could be stated in a more neutral tone; after all, Dijkstra's inimitable critical style is a variant of CriticizeBluntly. Isn't it kind of presumptuous for us to debate on wiki if "obnoxiousness" is appropriate to relate to Dijkstra? Why do we think we can settle this question, and what relevance can it have? -- CostinCozianu

I don't think we can settle this question, but the question was raised on another page and I've enjoyed thinking about it and researching it. Why would it be presumptuous? We don't need permission to debate if Kulisz is obnoxious. Why should Dijkstra be any different? -- EH

I personally am very curious to know if Dijkstra was as unpleasant in person as he is in prose, and I resent being told that I shouldn't have this curiosity. I expect that learning about Dijkstra's personal behavior will shed valuable light on something, but I don't know exactly what yet, and I don't think I should be required to know in advance where it will lead. -- BenKovitz

But would you resent being told that you should do it in a respectful and unpresumptuous manner? I mean why start the investigation with the presumptive hypothesis that he was obnoxious or unpleasant? It is true some people, an insignificant minority from the vast number of references to and recollection about him claim that much, but is there really prima facie evidence to start from this particular point as opposed to countless other points where you can start. How would you like a page IsBenKovitzObnoxious?? I believe that you wouldn't.
Yes, I can agree to that: let's explore the question in a respectful manner and without presuming that Dijkstra was or was not obnoxious. There is a prima facie reason to raise the question, though: the overbearing condescension ("grumpiness") of his writing; and, it appears, a reputation at least among some people. So, let's find out some more. BTW, are you considering "Djikstra was obnoxious in person" a black mark against him, analogous to a criminal charge for which we should presume him innocent until proven guilty? Just so you know how I'm looking at this, it's not to find feet of clay on a great man, it's motivated by my interest in heuristics and how conversational style relates to thought. I want info to see where it leads, not to prove or disprove any particular proposition. -- BenKovitz (BTW, my considerable vanity would be flattered by an IsBenKovitzObnoxious? page. To think that I am important enough that people would care! Also, it would be interesting to see how strongly conflicting the stories would be from different people.)
Go ahead, as this conversation leads nowhere (HalfBakedAttemptsLeadNowhere, and so much more the half-baked and flawed from start kind). A good part of my argument was essentially removed, but I do not care anyways, cause I do not understand to lend my name to give the appearance of seriousness to such a misguided effort. I just stated my position that this page is a disgrace to this wiki as it stands now, and I only see it going nowhere fast. --Costin

Whether or not Dijkstra was obnoxious scarcely matters. Scarcely matters to what?

I mean why start the investigation with the presumptive hypothesis that he was obnoxious or unpleasant?

Because that was the question already being debated on LanguageTypeErrorsDiscussion. It seemed reasonable to start moving it away from that page. -- EH

Great minds spew bile alike?

Lots of great minds were patently obnoxious if history was any indication. Sir IsaacNewton. WilliamShockley?.

Isaac Newton is known far and wide as being an asshole because he was an asshole. His credit-hogging and destruction of rival Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz are well-documented. And it had nothing with his being a "great mind" since Albert Einstein had just about the opposite character.

Dijkstra is a careful thinker and almost always right. The trouble with being almost always right is that you don't get much practice being wrong. This hurt Dijkstra. For example, when seeking a position at CalTech, Dijkstra was challenged from the audience by a Russian mathematician. Dijkstra dismissed the question. The Russian clarified and was dismissed again. Further clarification convinced most in the audience that the Russian had found a hole in Dijkstra's logic. Dijkstra's response: "You really have no command of the English language." Dijkstra didn't get the job.

JanuaryZeroSix