Synthesized answer
Dijkstra might have initially felt "highly embarrassing" about publishing a selection from the EWD series in book form because this series originated as a form of scientific correspondence [1, 2]. The EWD series was made possible by the advent of the copier and represented a more informal method of sharing ideas, where recipients were encouraged to act as further distribution nodes [2]. This suggests a perceived distinction at the time between the more formal nature of book publication and the informal sharing inherent in scientific correspondence.
The passages indicate that the decision to publish the EWD series in a book was at first embarrassing for Dijkstra, but he eventually got used to the idea [1, 2]. He also adopted guiding principles for the selection, preferring content that had not been published elsewhere and was varied and representative [1]. While the passages explain *that* he felt embarrassed and his efforts to select material, they do not explicitly detail the *reasons* behind the embarrassment beyond it being a selection of informal correspondence.
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
s of the distribution tree. ) The decision to publish a se1ection from the EWD series in book form was at first highly embarrassing, but as the months went by I got used to the idea. As soon as some guiding principles had been adopted -preferably not published elsewhere, as varied and as representative as possible, etc. Categories: Computers Pages: 381 Snippet: The public part of that output found its place in what became known as "the EWD series", which can be viewed as a form of scientific correspondence, possible since the advent of the copier. (That same copier makes it hard…
Title: Selected Writings on Computing: A personal Perspective by Edsger W. Dijkstra Description: Since the summer of 1973, when I became a Burroughs Research Fellow, my life has been very different from what it had been before. The daily routine changed: instead of going to the University each day, where I used to spend most of my time in the company of others, I now went there only one day a week and was most of the time -that is, when not travelling!- alone in my study. In my solitude, mail and the written word in general became more and more important. The circumstance that my employer…
More questions about this book
- How did Dijkstra's shift to a solitary work environment as a Burroughs Research Fellow fundamentally alter his method of communication and contribution to the computing field?
- Explain how the advent of the copier was not just a convenience, but a transformative technology for scientific correspondence like the EWD series. What does this suggest about the limitations of scientific communication before copiers?
- Describe the unique distribution model of the EWD series. What were its advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional publishing, and what modern-day equivalents exist for this kind of decentralized knowledge sharing?
- Analyze the "guiding principles" adopted for selecting the book's content (preferably not published elsewhere, as varied and as representative as possible). How do these principles reflect both the original spirit of the EWD series as "scientific correspondence" and the aims of creating a cohesive published work?