
Knuth reenacts his first Stanford lecture: The Analysis of Algorithms [video] - danso
https://vimeo.com/161783929/dba6a42ad3
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danso
Context for this is here:

[http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/news.html](http://www-cs-
faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/news.html)

> _My academic appointment at Stanford officially began in 1968 — another leap
> leap year! — but I was actually on a leave of absence, doing some national
> service at Princeton. Finally I arrived on campus in September of 1969, and
> began to teach about computer programming. I gave my inaugural colloquium
> lecture as a Professor of Computer Science on November 4, 1969, speaking
> about a newfangled concept that I 'd decided to call “analysis of
> algorithms.” As part of Stanford's ClassX Project, plans are afoot to stage
> a re-enactment of that lecture and to capture the video before a live
> audience._

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schoen
What does Knuth mean by "doing some national service at Princeton"? Working
for IDA or something?

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kalleboo
Quoth Wikipedia:

> Knuth left Caltech to accept employment with the Institute for Defense
> Analyses' Communications Research Division, then situated on the Princeton
> University campus, which was performing mathematical research in
> cryptography to support the National Security Agency. Knuth then left this
> position to join the Stanford University faculty.

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joe563323
In one video Knuth told that the he was about to publish(or published do not
remember) a research paper on cryptography and the defense department asked to
not publish. I think that might in the same period.

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richard_todd
Every time I see video of him, I find myself preoccupied with trying to guess
if he looks healthy enough to get through Vol 5 (current estimate 2025). It's
such a monumental work it would be a shame if he didn't finish. I'm rooting
for him.

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laichzeit0
He still looks good for someone that's 78 years old. If his estimates are
correct he would be 96 when he finishes that work.

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joe563323
On a different note, Knuth amazes me in his religious belief. Its fascinating
to see a mind which can write TAOCP and still believe in religious stuff.
Absolutely Fascinating.

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ryankey721
As a practicing Catholic and computer science major, TAOCP and his other book,
"3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated", stand side-by-side on my bookshelf.

The former needs no introduction here, but the latter is a 268 page analysis
of chapter 3 verse 16 of each book in the Bible. Definitely recommend it for
anyone interested in the Bible and a fan of his other works.

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imcotton
btw the lecture part starts around 12:30 in video.

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govindpatel
After watching this video, I felt like I want to be his student. Oh! he
explained so much which I never knew before. Thanks for sharing.

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meeper16
Understanding how the brain works is very helpful as well.

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copperx
What do you mean by that?

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mrcactu5
what is that on his head? is that even a toupee?

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bboreham
He says "believe it or not, I'm wearing a wig" ... the better to re-enact how
he would have spoken in 1969 :-)

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dbcurtis
That is a truly hilarious rug. He has a good sense of humor. I went to one of
his "Christmas Tree" lectures one year. This is a lecture in December, near
Christmas, where he talks about "the most interesting thing I have learned
about trees in the past year". I kept up for about 10 minutes but it got
esoteric very fast.

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foolinaround
Is there a transcript of this lecture?

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jacobolus
It’s mostly diagrams and formulae on a chalkboard. I don’t think a plain-text
transcript would be very useful, and a full-fidelity transcript would take too
much work to produce.

