Quote

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.

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
Like
Computer
Casually
People
Interested
Hardware
Pretty
Underlying
Least
Computers
Idea
Programs
Write
Weird
Ideas
Otherwise
Writing
Program

More quotes by Donald Knuth

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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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The best practice is inspired by theory.
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I'm obsessively detail-oriented.
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Beware of bugs in the above code I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
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There's ways to amuse yourself while doing things and thats how I look at efficency.
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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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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%
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The designer of a new kind of system must participate fully in the implementation.
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How can you own numbers? Numbers belong to the world.
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AI has by now succeeded in doing essentially everything that requires 'thinking' but has failed to do most of what people and animals do 'without thinking'-that, somehow, is much harder.
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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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Programming is legitimate and necessary academic endeavour.
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I've never been a good estimator of how long things are going to take.
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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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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 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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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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It would be nice if we could design a virtual reality in Hyperbolic Space, and meet each other there.
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Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.
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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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