I know about Dijkstra.

I didn't say Dijkstra was talking out of his ass in this case. I'm saying you often can't tell when people like him are talking out of their ass, as they sometimes do. Who would think the inventor of all these algorithms would ever utter a half-formed thought, on a whim? Unthinkable! Yeah... no.

Another distinction you fail to see is that somebody who is great at finding the best or optimal algorithms (i.e. a great theorist) isn't necessarily a productive programmer. To the contrary, perfectionism and productivity are at great odds.

Dijkstra was heavily at odds with real-world programming as it was done, to the point of isolating himself with his work. If we followed his opinions on how to program, we wouldn't get much of anything done.