The detail about Hoare sitting in the front row at conferences taking notes on specialized topics (after retiring from Oxford, after a Turing Award, after decades of foundational work) is the part of this piece that will stick with me. There's a certain kind of senior figure who stops learning once they reach eminence. Hoare clearly wasn't that. Meyer's phrase "a combination of pride and humility" nails it.
by soumyaskartha
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Null references, CSP, Quicksort. One person responsible for that much of how we think about computing is rare. The null reference apology alone earned him a permanent place in the conversation.
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