As Dijkstra was preparing for his end of life, organizing his documents and correspondence became an important task. Cancer had snuck up on him and there was not much time.
One senior professor, who was helping out with this, asked Dijkstra what is to be done with his correspondences. The professor, quite renowned himself, relates a story where Dijsktra tells him from his hospital bed, to keep the ones with "Tony" and throw the rest.
The professor adds with a dry wit, that his own correspondence with Dijsktra were in the pile too.
What is the equivalent of correspondence today?
I guess back then each letter had a cost, in (delivery) time and money, so you better make it count.
My guess is that these correspondences were often interesting to read because they had to be worthwile to send because of the associated cost.
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John Backus had some correspondence with Dijkstra that's worth a read: https://medium.com/@acidflask/this-guys-arrogance-takes-your...
Incredible letters, thanks for sharing. I wish some of this correspondence was published in physical books. What a joy it would be to read.
There's that immortal Alan Kay line "arrogance in computer science is measured in nano Dijkstras".
That's a famous quote and age might have mellowed him. But he was not like that at all in person with his students. He did insist that one be precise with ones words.
The origin of the quote may have more to do with cultural differences between the Dutch and Americans.
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Alan Kay himself said this quote is taken out-of-context and so people need to stop repeating it - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11799963
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That's a wild ride of passive aggressive academia in a field I know something about. A rare treat. Thanks for sharing!