Part II: Talking with Don Knuth, software pioneer

Don Knuth has taught many many people to program through his books and classes and here I have a conversation with him about software in the Revolutions Exhibit at the Computer History Museum.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• software
• history
• pioneer
• don knuth

[juchemBR]

I'm impressed about how humble he can be after all he have done. This guy is a TRUE master.

[wiredboy27]

2:53: Interviewer: Very cool. Well thank you so much for spending a little bit of time in the new Revolutions exhibit, its a wonderful exhibit, highly recommend everybody visit it. Knuth: Yeah. :3:02::

[wiredboy27]

2:18: Knuth: what was the algorithm of the year and I could never think, never could come up with one and on the other hand every five years the whole field changes and the reason is that, there are lots of little ones that are all contributors so its like the Wall of China is built out of stones, of little stones its not just milestones, or (?) its not one or two people who come up with big breakthroughs its the massing of the whole strip of the whole thing and so many people contribute. :2:53:

[wiredboy27]

1:50: Knuth: I don't know how much time you have but I remember I was in the 60s I was having discussion with the chair of Cornell's Computer Science department and he said 'OK Don, what's been the best algorithm invented this year, last year?' I sat there and i couldn't think of any one that was particularly great but I thought it was a great question so every year afterwards I sort of asked myself :2:18:

[wiredboy27]

1:09: Interviewer: You tell a lot of programmers how to program, what's your favourite algorithm to teach somebody? Knuth: Oh, no no I can't tell... You ask somebody whose, which of their children is their favourite, I don't like this idea of Top Ten Ranking pretty much, each one has its own beauty and the whole field is based on lots of, thousands of people contributing in their own way at the end of every year, :1:50::

[wiredboy27]

0:49: Knuth: These multicore are maybe just different enough for my own competence that I'm reacting so maybe another kind of person will arise and be just the ticket for it. :1:09:

[wiredboy27]

0:11: Knuth: How to crunch numbers, how to calculate these things or to make these pictures with a machine and then I learnt to program because I was so driven by the idea of it. It was the other way round I happened to be good at programming because of the peculiarities therein and my good luck was that other people needed this skill so I could do it but if the computers had been different, analog or something, I wouldn't have ever have taken a 2nd look because I don't think that way. :0:49:

[gbushster]

Please, put this interview transcript somewhere.