Donald Knuth
Donald Knuth
Donald Ervin Knuthis an American computer scientist, mathematician, and professor emeritus at Stanford University...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth10 January 1938
CountryUnited States of America
Donald Knuth quotes about
writing style sitting
My general working style is to write everything first with pencil and paper, sitting beside a big wastebasket. Then I use Emacs to enter the text into my machine.
people long roles
Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration.
order fonts menus
I can’t go to a restaurant and order food because I keep looking at the fonts on the menu.
digital computer program
The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music.
practice attention spending
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.
computer program humans
Programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute.
three four admiration
The whole thing that makes a mathematician’s life worthwhile is that he gets the grudging admiration of three or four colleagues.
educational learning hands
...methods are more important than facts. The educational value of a problem given to a student depends mostly on how often the thought processes that are invoked to solve it will be helpful in later situations. It has little to do with how useful the answer to the problem may be. On the other hand, a good problem must also motivate the students; they should be interested in seeing the answer. Since students differ so greatly, I cannot expect everyone to like the problems that please me.
reality understanding machines
By understanding a machine-oriented language, the programmer will tend to use a much more efficient method; it is much closer to reality.
roots evil debugging
We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
funny-inspirational reading following-instructions
Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.
science dna patents
I have a hunch that the unknown sequences of DNA will decode into copyright notices and patent protections.
art views skills
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.
thinking animal people
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.