Donald Knuth programming a computer in 1958 it says. No Mt. Dew or salt and vinegar potato chips to fuel the late night programming sessions back in the day it appears. Knuth is super influential in computer science, mostly in algorithms. And he's kind of interesting character from what I gather. The wikipedia article on him has some interesting tidbits. Maybe if I ever get around to reading and wrapping my head around his books I'll also be able to say that "Knuth is my homeboy". Jason has probably earned that t-shirt by now, I think he's working his way through the books.
As an example of his awesomeness, he created his own programming methodology (literate programming), created a programming language based on that methodology (WEB), wrote a pioneering digital typesetting system in that language (TeX), which he used to typeset The Art of Computer Programming.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, it is kinda sad how long it is taking to get through the books; definitely a marathon and not a sprint. :)
You want sad. I got The Art of Computer Programming series as an award in 2003 and they are still wrapped in shrink wrap.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want to borrow them Kendall.