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He wouldn't. He would finish TAOCP. Frankly the math is more important than any chunk of hardware. Even if he just got really bored and wanted hardware, I do
by stonemetal 11y ago
He wouldn't. He would finish TAOCP. Frankly the math is more important than any chunk of hardware.
Even if he just got really bored and wanted hardware, I don't think he would have the knowledge to do it. It is one thing to know how to use all the tools, it is another thing altogether to know how to engineer high quality tools with nothing but sticks, stones, and no help.
- informatimago 11y agoWell, he still uses a computer to run his TeX program to write TAOCP, so I wouldn't exclude that he would build a computer. Also, it's not that complicated to build an electromechanical computer. As I see it, the hardest part is making the magnets to generate electricity from a water mill. Then you only need some copper and to make a lot of wire out of it, and you can make electro magnets for the gates. (It seems to me to be even easier to build than Babbage's mechanical computers).
- Scarblac 11y agoThis is the man who, when he wanted good looking typesetting for the second volume of TAOCP, spent over a decade making TeX to do that with. Of course he would stop and build a computer first. And universities where people would read his books, banking and mail institutions to send people checks through after they report bugs, and so on. One needs to have some preconditions in place first, obviously.