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The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.

Donald Knuth

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Donald Knuth
Age: 86
Born: 1938
Born: January 10
Academic
Computer Scientist
Engineer
Historian Of Mathematics
Mathematician
Programmer
University Teacher
Writer
Milwaukee City
Wisconsin
Donald E. Knuth
Don Knuth
Donald Ervin Knuth
D.E.K.
DEK
Knuth
Important
Programming
Thing
Invented
Succeed
Good
Name
Names
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A list is only as strong as its weakest link.
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I can’t go to a restaurant and order food because I keep looking at the fonts on the menu.
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The sun comes up just about as often as it goes down, in the long run, but this doesn't make its motion random.
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There's ways to amuse yourself while doing things and thats how I look at efficency.
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I'm obsessively detail-oriented.
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By understanding a machine-oriented language, the programmer will tend to use a much more efficient method it is much closer to reality.
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Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.
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In fact, my main conclusion after spending ten years of my life working on the TEX project is that software is hard. It's harder than anything else I've ever had to do.
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Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
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I define UNIX as 30 definitions of regular expressions living under one roof.
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I try to learn certain areas of computer science exhaustively then I try to digest that knowledge into a form that is accessible to people who don't have time for such study.
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People think that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on each other, like a wall of mini stones.
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The manuals we got from IBM would show examples of programs and I knew I could do a heck of a lot better than that. So I thought I might have some talent.
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Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it.
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People who are more than casually interested in computers should have at least some idea of what the underlying hardware is like. Otherwise the programs they write will be pretty weird.
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It would be nice if we could design a virtual reality in Hyperbolic Space, and meet each other there.
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My general working style is to write everything first with pencil and paper, sitting beside a big wastebasket. Then I use Emacs to enter the text into my machine.
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Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs. Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do.
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