Back in 2015, I somehow ended up as part of a panel discussion at the end of a conference. The panel was going to include Joe Armstrong, Don Syme (inventor of F#), Tony Hoare (!), and myself (a nobody compared to any of them). During the conference, I wanted to meet each of the other folks on the panel, and ended up in a somewhat lengthy conversation with Joe Armstrong -- mostly about Erlang, but at some point the panel itself came up. I mentioned how nervous I was; me, sitting on a panel with such other esteemed and brilliant folks -- of course referring to all of the other people on the panel, including Joe Armstrong himself. I'll never forget his response: "yeah, me too! Wow, Tony Hoare, seriously?!"

I'm not sure if he deliberately misunderstood me or not, but it definitely put me more at ease, realising that there's always someone bigger, even for the folks you see as bigger than you!

So sad to learn of his passing. RIP.