Last August I stumbled upon the personal website of Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of the C++ programming language. I am a pretty big fan of his and it was great to read the articles and FAQ on his personal web site.
http://www.research.att.com/~bs/
I was surprised to see his email listed so I wrote him a quick message:
Hi Bjarne,
I found your homepage randomly today and wanted to let you know how
much I enjoy the C++ language. I own your book (which I've read
through many times) , "The C++ Programming Language", and I really
enjoy programming in C++.
This might be an odd request, but would I be able to get an
autographed photo of you? I would proudly display this in my office
everyday, especially if it had a silly line like "Brian, you'll never
be as good as me at C++ but thanks for buying my book - Bjarne".
I'm a 26 year old software engineer and my entire career was founded
on the knowledge I gained by becoming an expert at C++. If you were
up for that, it would mean a lot. If not, that's ok too. Thanks for
everything
Cheers
Brian
About a week later I was checking the mail and noticed a large envelope from
TAMU...
"To Brian Clifton, All the best with C++"