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Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.

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
Reading
Mind
Instructions
Good
Computing
Computers
Instruction
Programming
Following
Computer

More quotes by Donald Knuth

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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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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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An algorithm must be seen to be believed.
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The best practice is inspired by theory.
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The enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.
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How can you own numbers? Numbers belong to the world.
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If you find that you're spending almost all your time on theory, start turning some attention to practical things it will improve your theories. If you find that you're spending almost all your time on practice, start turning some attention to theoretical things it will improve your practice.
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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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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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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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Beware of bugs in the above code I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
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A mathematical formula should never be owned by anybody! Mathematics belong to God.
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My first program taught me a lot about the errors that I was going to be making in the future, and also about how to find errors. That's sort of the story of my life, making errors and trying to recover from them. I try to get things correct. I probably obsess about not making too many mistakes.
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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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I define UNIX as 30 definitions of regular expressions living under one roof.
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Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
Donald Knuth
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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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A list is only as strong as its weakest link.
Donald Knuth
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There's ways to amuse yourself while doing things and thats how I look at efficency.
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Computer programming is an art, because it applies accumulated knowledge to the world, because it requires skill and ingenuity, and especially because it produces objects of beauty. A programmer who subconsciously views himself as an artist will enjoy what he does and will do it better.
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