A piece of history of Computer Science

This is a text written by E. W. Dijkstra in 1972, and I find it really a fascinating piece.
It feels a little like being present in front of the gratest thinkers of your age, hear his voice, follow his way of thinking.


I'd like to collect more of this kind of notes and texts, and perhaps try and write a small history of Computer Science... where great ideas and the people that invented them are described, togheter with their environment. Give a face to the ideas and state the problems that they solved at the time.
I really missed this kind of data, when studing CS.

For more Dijkstra texts: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/