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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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I have a hunch that the unknown sequences of DNA will decode into copyright notices and patent protections.
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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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A mathematical formula should never be owned by anybody! Mathematics belong to God.
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The best theory is inspired by practice.
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The enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.
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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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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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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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Programming is legitimate and necessary academic endeavour.
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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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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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I currently use Ubuntu Linux, on a standalone laptop - it has no Internet connection. I occasionally carry flash memory drives between this machine and the Macs that I use for network surfing and graphics but I trust my family jewels only to Linux.
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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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How can you own numbers? Numbers belong to the world.
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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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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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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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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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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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