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I remember that mathematicians were telling me in the 1960s that they would recognize computer science as a mature discipline when it had 1,000 deep algorithms. I think we've probably reached 500.

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
Would
Recognize
Think
Telling
Thinking
Discipline
Computer
Algorithms
Deep
Mathematicians
Probably
Mathematician
Science
Mature
Remember
Reached

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The designer of a new kind of system must participate fully in the implementation.
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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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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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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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An algorithm must be seen to be believed.
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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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The best practice is inspired by theory.
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Meta-design is much more difficult than design it's easier to draw something than to explain how to draw it.
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I've never been a good estimator of how long things are going to take.
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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 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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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 psychological profiling [of a programmer] is mostly the ability to shift levels of abstraction, from low level to high level. To see something in the small and to see something in the large.
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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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How can you own numbers? Numbers belong to the world.
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I'm obsessively detail-oriented.
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Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random
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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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There's ways to amuse yourself while doing things and thats how I look at efficency.
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I think people who write programs do have at least a glimmer of extra insight into the nature of God... because creating a program often means that you have to create a small universe
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