Roughly 80 participants from 15 countries participated in the 1971 summer school in Marktoberdorf. According to Dijkstra, some participants were very theoretically inclined, others more practically minded. Viewed from the present day, the following list of speakers at that summer school is impressive. Dijkstra attributed a theme to each speaker, with the exception of Perlis and Dahl:

The T.H.E. multiprogramming system — as designed and implemented by Dijkstra, Bron, Habermann, Hendriks, Ligtmans, and Voorhoeve — was studied by Mike McKeag during his visit to Eindhoven some time during the first half of 1971. Subsequently, McKeag went back to his university in Belfast (in Hoare's research group) where he wrote a report of the T.H.E. system. That report was sent to Dijkstra on 22 July 1971 with a cover letter stating:

Dear Professor Dijkstra,

A short letter from Keith Marzullo to Dijkstra:

I've been recieving copies of EWD since last August when I joined the Cornell CS Faculty as an assistant professor. Before that, I used to browse the copies of my advisor Susan Owicki.