Description: In this wide-ranging interview conducted by Edward Feigenbaum, Donald Knuth talks about the progression of his life and career. Topics include his family background and early interest in music, physics and mathematics, his first exposure to programming, finding a mentor, and writing a doctoral thesis. He describes how ?The Art of Computer Programming? became ?the story of my life?, and why it was put on hold for the TeX and METAFONT projects. He also talks about personal work habits, programming style, analysis of algorithms, the influence of religion in his life, and his advice to the next generation of scientists.
One quote:
"I would say that’s my major disappointment with my teaching career, [that] I was not able to get across to any of my students this love for that kind of scholarship -- reading source material. I was a complete failure at passing this on to the people that I worked with the most closely. I don’t know what I should have done."
Description: In this wide-ranging interview conducted by Edward Feigenbaum, Donald Knuth talks about the progression of his life and career. Topics include his family background and early interest in music, physics and mathematics, his first exposure to programming, finding a mentor, and writing a doctoral thesis. He describes how ?The Art of Computer Programming? became ?the story of my life?, and why it was put on hold for the TeX and METAFONT projects. He also talks about personal work habits, programming style, analysis of algorithms, the influence of religion in his life, and his advice to the next generation of scientists.
One quote: "I would say that’s my major disappointment with my teaching career, [that] I was not able to get across to any of my students this love for that kind of scholarship -- reading source material. I was a complete failure at passing this on to the people that I worked with the most closely. I don’t know what I should have done."
Man I wish I had time to read this whole thing!