
Donald E. Knuth: An Oral History (2018) [video] - bsilvereagle
https://purl.stanford.edu/jq248bz8097
======
janvdberg
Speaking about Knuth audiofiles, I recently created a RSS feed for the Knuth's
"Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About" audio files
([https://j11g.com/knuth.xml](https://j11g.com/knuth.xml)). This way you can
listen to it in your favorite podcast player. For example, I added the feed to
Overcast:
[https://overcast.fm/p1120847-YM0aS7](https://overcast.fm/p1120847-YM0aS7)

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contr-error
Thanks, very convenient! I assume there's no video of these lectures? I've
listened up to the 3rd lecture and it seems that one and especially the fourth
one (artwork) would benefit from video.

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svat
This is in fact one of several oral histories that Knuth has done over the
last few years:

* 2001, 2 hours audio ([http://purl.umn.edu/96227](http://purl.umn.edu/96227)), 27-page transcript ([https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107413](https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107413)) (partial I guess?)

* 2006, Web of Stories, 7.5 hours video in 97 short parts [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzeNLngr1Jq...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFzeNLngr1JqyQki3wdoGrCn) , transcript ([https://github.com/kragen/knuth-interview-2006](https://github.com/kragen/knuth-interview-2006))

* 2007, interview by Ed Feigenbaum, 3 hours ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp7GAKLSGnI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp7GAKLSGnI)) + 4 hours ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqPPll3uDa0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqPPll3uDa0)), 73-page transcript ([https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/20...](https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2013/05/102658053-05-01-acc.pdf))

* 2018, this one ([https://purl.stanford.edu/jq248bz8097](https://purl.stanford.edu/jq248bz8097)), about 4.5 hours, 177-page transcript (but 50 pages of those are Knuth's CV!)

* 2018, by the Computer History Museum, 1.5 hours, specifically about the earliest programs he wrote as an undergrad when he first encountered computers ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9JOrmgHw28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9JOrmgHw28)): the programs themselves are here: [https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/?s=X8738....](https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search/?s=X8738.2019) (in machine language / assembly)

I've watched the Web of Stories one fully (and the others not yet fully)… they
are a delight. You can see the way his mind works, and he's someone whose
career has spanned basically the entirety of computer science as a separate
academic discipline.

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bsilvereagle
Transcript:
[https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz80...](https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz8097_SC0932_s5_Knuth_script.pdf?download=true)

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simonebrunozzi
Gulp. 177 pages. A book.

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blihp
You expected anything less from Knuth?

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mathattack
It’s a wonder it didn’t take a decade or two to come out!

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enitihas
One day out of sheer boredom I was checking who is the youngest turing award
winner. And it turns out Knuth is the youngest, having won the award at 36
years of age.

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winter_blue
I'm hoping he releases his books under CC, or into the public domain. On that
note, are there excerpts or small parts of TAOCP available anywhere online for
free?

~~~
svat
Everything Knuth has written for TAOCP after Volume 3 (over the last dozen
years or so), amounting to all of Volume 4A (published as a ~900-page book)
and about two-thirds of Volume 4B (yet to be published), is basically
available online in draft form (very close to the final published version
though of course Knuth being Knuth there may be many very _minor_ changes),
from his website, or more conveniently collected here:
[http://www.cs.utsa.edu/~wagner/knuth/](http://www.cs.utsa.edu/~wagner/knuth/)

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amelius
By the way, Knuth's monumental volume on searching is in need of an update
since we've entered the age of search engines.

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CalChris
The second edition came out in 1998. Parallel merge sort well predates that,
_Parallel merge sort_ , Richard Cole, SIAM Journal of Computing, 1988.

 _PageRank_ is more of comparison function for determining order rather than a
sort algorithm in and of itself.

Dunno. Maybe.

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jwilk
Does anyone know how to download this?

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RGS1811
There's a download button at the bottom of the player.

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jwilk
Thanks. Direct download links:

[https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz80...](https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz8097_SC0932_s5_Knuth_Audio1_sl.m4a?download=true)

[https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz80...](https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jq248bz8097/jq248bz8097_SC0932_s5_Knuth_Audio2_sl.m4a?download=true)

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ggm
potrzebie?

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teddyh
Context:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potrzebie#System_of_measuremen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potrzebie#System_of_measurement)

~~~
ggm
Halva!

