NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Grant — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:49:00 GMT

I heard this while driving to work also and really enjoyed it; thanks for the link to the story.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Mat Hall — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:14:00 GMT

I wish a) we could get NPR in the UK, and b) audio was available for download rather than streaming.

(And all my life I've been pronouncing Knuth with a silent K...)

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Steve Dispensa — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:42:00 GMT

Was it true that Bill Gates said something about hiring any programmer who could finish the series?

My high school principal went to high school with Knuth - they were friends and alphabetically next to each other in their class. I got to hear a few entertaining stories about when they were teenagers. It's sometimes hard to remember that our icons didn't know what was in store for them.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Larry Osterman — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:43:00 GMT

Steve, I have NO idea if that's true or not.

I doubt it, since it's Knuth's baby - any attempt to finish it while Knuth is alive would be MAJOR toe stepping.

But that's cool about your principal.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Mike Feldkamp — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:40:00 GMT

Larry - I think Steve meant "finish it" as in finish reading it or finish doing the problems.

The quote on the back of the third edition bookcover reads:

"If you think you're a really good programmer... read [Knuth's] Art of Computer Programming. ... You should definately send me a resume if you can read the whole thing.
- Bill Gates"

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Larry Osterman — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:42:00 GMT

Oh, yeah. That kind of finish. Not as in "completing", but as in "surviving".

Ok, that makes more sense :)

Since I only have 2nd editions (for 1 and 2) (and a 1st edition of volume 3), I'm not in the loop - I got them 20 years ago in college and haven't had a need to update them.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Larry Osterman — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:44:00 GMT

Btw, my excuse is that I spent the entire weekend doing Tai Chi. That'll seriously mess with your head if anything does.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Norman Diamond — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 02:20:00 GMT

> And he's just about done with Volume 4!

That joke was old 30 years ago.
OK, it's an oldie but a goodie.
But now it's time for an update:
Volume 4 will be coming out some millennium now.

3/14/2005 2:42 PM Steve Dispensa

> I got to hear a few entertaining stories
> about when they were teenagers.

Hey! Tell us the stories!

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Mike Feldkamp — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 03:10:00 GMT

I'll take your word for it; I think if I tried Tai Chi I'd break something ;)

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

D. Philippe — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 14:55:00 GMT

The Gates story, as I recall hearing it, is that he tried to and couldn't finish the series of books. Which would explain why he wrote that tongue-in-cheek promo on the back.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Chi Sao — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 22:00:00 GMT

Doing Tai Chi?

Which form? 24 steps? 48 steps? 64 steps?

I've practiced Tai-Chi for 17 years and I can tell you that what you learn in the first 5 years is nothing compared with what you learn in the next 5 and so on... All this without doing different movements, but by succesive refinement of the same movements.

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

Larry Osterman — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 22:04:00 GMT

Chi,
We do two different forms. The first is the Chen Man Ching Yang style short form, the second is called the "fundimentals" form by Tricia Yu (http://www.taichihealth.com/tricia.html)

This weekend I was at a seminar by B.K. Franzis which focused on the 16 part Nei Gung and their applications to Tai Chi.

I've only been doing the forms for about 4 years now, and I'm still trying to get the form vaguely right :)...

re: NPR Has a FASCINATING profile of Donald Knuth this morning...

John Tyler — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 01:28:00 GMT

Don Knuth's lectures on computer science are posted to the Stanford University web site at http://scpd.stanford.edu/scpd/students/Dam_ui/pages/ArchivedVideoList56K.asp?Include=musings

If you think the interview on NPR this morning was cool, just give the professor a couple hours of your time, watch his "Musings" on the art of programming, and learn ...
--jtyler2gator

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