Donald Knuth Quotes

A collection of quotes by Donald Knuth.

Donald Knuth is a renowned American computer scientist and mathematician who made significant contributions to the fields of computer science and algorithm design. He was born on January 10, 1938, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Known for his exceptional work and attention to detail, Knuth has significantly influenced the discipline of computer programming.

Knuth is perhaps best known for his seminal multi-volume book series, "The Art of Computer Programming," which he began writing in 1962. This series has become a staple in computer science education, providing comprehensive coverage of algorithms and programming techniques. His meticulous approach to writing the books earned him praise and admiration from professionals in the field.

In addition to his publications, Knuth developed the TeX computer typesetting system, widely used in academia and publishing to create high-quality documents. He is also the creator of the Metafont font design system, which allows users to design their own fonts. These two endeavors have had a lasting impact on the field of typesetting and have become essential tools for researchers and publishers.

Recognized for his contributions, Knuth has received numerous awards and honors, including the Turing Award in 1974 â€“ considered the highest distinction in computer science. Despite his many achievements, Knuth remains a humble and dedicated scholar, continuing to refine his work and serve as an inspiration to generations of computer scientists.

The whole thing that makes a mathematician's life worthwhile

The whole thing that makes a mathematician's life worthwhile is that he gets the grudging admiration of three or four colleagues.

Trees sprout up just about everywhere in computer science...

Trees sprout up just about everywhere in computer science...

Computers Science

I can't be as confident about computer science as I can abou

I can't be as confident about computer science as I can about biology. Biology easily has 500 years of exciting problems to work on. It's at that level.

Work Computers Science

Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is

Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration.

Life People Studying

I decry the current tendency to seek patents on algorithms.

I decry the current tendency to seek patents on algorithms. There are better ways to earn a living than to prevent other people from making use of one's contributions to computer science.

People think that computer science is the art of geniuses bu

People think that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on eachother, like a wall of mini stones.

Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love some

Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it.

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a co

Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.

I currently use Ubuntu Linux, on a standalone laptop - it ha

I currently use Ubuntu Linux, on a standalone laptop - it has no Internet connection. I occasionally carry flash memory drives between this machine and the Macs that I use for network surfing and graphics but I trust my family jewels only to Linux.

People who are more than casually interested in computers sh

People who are more than casually interested in computers should have at least some idea of what the underlying hardware is like. Otherwise the programs they write will be pretty weird.

Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction o

Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs. Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do.