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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.
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
Human
Program
Construction
Humans
Computer
Programming
Beings
Software
Instead
Task
Instruct
Attitude
Simplicity
Imagining
Learning
Main
Explaining
Rather
Traditional
Concentrate
Change
Tasks
Programs
More quotes by Donald Knuth
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.
Donald Knuth
I've never been a good estimator of how long things are going to take.
Donald Knuth
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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We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%
Donald Knuth
I have a hunch that the unknown sequences of DNA will decode into copyright notices and patent protections.
Donald Knuth
Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random
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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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An algorithm must be seen to be believed.
Donald Knuth
The enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.
Donald Knuth
I decry the current tendency to seek patents on algorithms. There are better ways to earn a living than to prevent other people from making use of one's contributions to computer science.
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Any inaccuracies in this index may be explained by the fact that it has been prepared with the help of a computer.
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The designer of a new kind of system must participate fully in the implementation.
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TeX has found at least one bug in every Pascal compiler it's been run on, I think, and at least two in every C compiler
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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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The best theory is inspired by practice.
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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 knowledge which we understand so well that we can teach it to a computer and if we don't fully understand something, it is an art to deal with it.
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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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The best practice is inspired by theory.
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It would be nice if we could design a virtual reality in Hyperbolic Space, and meet each other there.
Donald Knuth
