4 ms·

Interview with Donald Knuth (2008)

42 points by chjj 13y ago

chjj 13y ago
I saw this a while ago and always thought it was interesting: I initially thought Knuth was an Apple fan after watching a few of his lectures, but apparently he uses his Macbook only for trivial everyday tasks. For every WM enthusiast here: Screenshot of Knuth's setup: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/screen.jpeg http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/screen.jpeg Knuth's fvwm2 config: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/programs/.fvwm2rc http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/programs/.fvwm2rc
- myg204 13y ago
  Even his comments on that wm config file are a great read...inspiring to see such thoughtfulness on all levels.
  - quesebifurcan 13y ago
    I agree. This Knuth gem is also well worth a read: http://www.literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf http://www.literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf.
TempleOSV2 13y ago
Some people take 5 semesters of theoretical computer science. I took 5 semesters of asm and hardware datasheet programming. What you need to write a compiler is 5 asm course, not 5 theoretical computer science courses. the fucken pretenders say "It compiles to a virtual machine, right? or you use a backend?" I say, "No, I fucken know what a compiler is and I fucken wrote a compiler." I took a compiler, an operating system and a data structures and digital logic and numeric methods and computer graphics and architecture courses, too. They don't believe me. http://www.templeos.org/files/ASU_Transcripts.pdf http://www.templeos.org/files/ASU_Transcripts.pdf CSC226 CSC326: x86 asm CSE421 CSE422 CSE523: M6800 asm
brudgers 13y ago
If you want to spend quality time with Knuth without picking up TAoCP, this extensive video interview is awesome: http://www.webofstories.com/play/donald.knuth/1 http://www.webofstories.com/play/donald.knuth/1
mabbo 13y ago
"Remember, though, that my opinion on economic questions is highly suspect, since I’m just an educator and scientist. I understand almost nothing about the marketplace." How wonderful to hear a person say that. Like, hey, I'm an expert at just this one field, not every field. Rare to see that attitude these days.
- _Robbie 13y ago
  Yes, I appreciated that too. I wonder if the media has had an impact on this. In a TV interview for instance, it might be considered rude to refuse to answer a question.
rakoo 13y ago
> web browsing [...] recreation Ha !
jostylr 13y ago
I have been using my version of literate programming (markdown compiled with node : https://github.com/jostylr/literate-programming https://github.com/jostylr/literate-programming) for awhile now and I have to agree with him that it does become indispensable. I am already at the point that I can't imagine coding without it. Particularly now that I have embraced Vim and the fantastic outliner Voom. Re-editable instead of reusable code struck me as right on target as well, though there is the issue of patches. Thinking for oneself instead of following conventional wisdom seems one of the most important pieces of what ought to be conventional wisdom. It is a hard road to travel, though.

42 points by chjj 13y ago

chjj 13y ago

I saw this a while ago and always thought it was interesting: I initially thought Knuth was an Apple fan after watching a few of his lectures, but apparently he uses his Macbook only for trivial everyday tasks. For every WM enthusiast here: Screenshot of Knuth's setup: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/screen.jpeg http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/screen.jpeg Knuth's fvwm2 config: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/programs/.fvwm2rc http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/programs/.fvwm2rc

myg204 13y ago
Even his comments on that wm config file are a great read...inspiring to see such thoughtfulness on all levels.
- quesebifurcan 13y ago
  I agree. This Knuth gem is also well worth a read: http://www.literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf http://www.literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf.

TempleOSV2 13y ago

Some people take 5 semesters of theoretical computer science. I took 5 semesters of asm and hardware datasheet programming. What you need to write a compiler is 5 asm course, not 5 theoretical computer science courses. the fucken pretenders say "It compiles to a virtual machine, right? or you use a backend?" I say, "No, I fucken know what a compiler is and I fucken wrote a compiler." I took a compiler, an operating system and a data structures and digital logic and numeric methods and computer graphics and architecture courses, too. They don't believe me. http://www.templeos.org/files/ASU_Transcripts.pdf http://www.templeos.org/files/ASU_Transcripts.pdf CSC226 CSC326: x86 asm CSE421 CSE422 CSE523: M6800 asm

brudgers 13y ago

If you want to spend quality time with Knuth without picking up TAoCP, this extensive video interview is awesome: http://www.webofstories.com/play/donald.knuth/1 http://www.webofstories.com/play/donald.knuth/1

mabbo 13y ago

"Remember, though, that my opinion on economic questions is highly suspect, since I’m just an educator and scientist. I understand almost nothing about the marketplace." How wonderful to hear a person say that. Like, hey, I'm an expert at just this one field, not every field. Rare to see that attitude these days.

_Robbie 13y ago
Yes, I appreciated that too. I wonder if the media has had an impact on this. In a TV interview for instance, it might be considered rude to refuse to answer a question.

rakoo 13y ago

> web browsing [...] recreation Ha !

jostylr 13y ago

I have been using my version of literate programming (markdown compiled with node : https://github.com/jostylr/literate-programming https://github.com/jostylr/literate-programming) for awhile now and I have to agree with him that it does become indispensable. I am already at the point that I can't imagine coding without it. Particularly now that I have embraced Vim and the fantastic outliner Voom. Re-editable instead of reusable code struck me as right on target as well, though there is the issue of patches. Thinking for oneself instead of following conventional wisdom seems one of the most important pieces of what ought to be conventional wisdom. It is a hard road to travel, though.