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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.

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
Design
Easier
Difficult
Much
Something
Meta
Explain
Draw
Draws

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An algorithm must be seen to be believed.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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The best theory is inspired by practice.
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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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Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
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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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Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.
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Beware of bugs in the above code I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
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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 enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.
Donald Knuth
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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.
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.
Donald Knuth
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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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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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It is much more rewarding to do more with less.
Donald Knuth