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Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

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Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#141

Post by deepGem »

jmcphers wrote: post #91

> My mother is amazing to watch because she doesn't do anything efficiently, really: She puts about three times as much energy as necessary into everything she does. But she never spends any time wondering what to do next or how to optimize anything; she just keeps working. Her strategy, slightly simplified, is, "See something that needs to be done and do it." All day long. And at the end of the day, she's accomplish…

This is exactly how I approached Leetcode. TBH the grind has had satisfactory effects even though the immediate practical impact is just for interviewing. I don’t use it as a tool for interviewing, just as a tool of list of things to get done. I should just pour more energy into it and do it every day.

I also am stealing this principle ‘My scheduling principle is to do the thing I hate most on my to-do list’

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#142

Post by randomsearch »

DeathArrow wrote: post #140
luigi23 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Long-term consistency trumps short term intensity" - Bruce Lee https://www.dannyok.com/blog/2015/9/26/long-term-consistency...

Unless we are talking about High-intensity interval training.

I know you’re being facetious, but actually any form of exercise is a great example of Bruce Lee being correct!

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#143

Post by DeathArrow »

hintymad wrote: post #23

I still read TAOCP, particularly vol 4, for fun from time to time, but I have to admit that the days are long gone when an ordinary engineer needs to study algorithms in depth. The vast number of libraries and services are good enough that most people just need to know a few terms to function adequately for their jobs. I guess it's a good thing as it shows how robust the software abstractions are, in contrast to math…

> I have to admit that the days are long gone when an ordinary engineer needs to study algorithms in depth

Even that I architect and write software for a living, I don't consider myself an engineer, but a computer scientist. I've studied Computer Science in University, not Engineering. I like to understand how things work, why they work, how would they work if anything would be changed. I like to try, discover and do new things, not new only for me, but things which weren't done previously. And that is impossible without a solid understanding of theoretical principles and continuous learning.

If I wouldn't be into computers, I could see myself as a mathematician, physicist, biologist, doctor, artist or architect but not as an engineer since I do like to go deeply to the root of knowledge, not just apply the said knowledge.

I see a great value in engineering mentality, but it's just not for me.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#144

Post by DeathArrow »

orlp wrote: post #72
bigcat12345678 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most valuable part of TAOCP, for me, is its writing. I've never read anything that is more precise or intuitive. TAOCP is also pleasant to read. It's the book that I go back to once a while after being bothered by the sloppiness in the documents and papers and many other written materials consumed everyday. Reading it gives a sense of enlightenment that regardless of all those poor writing, there is hope to reach…

My only gripe with TAOCP is its usage of MMIX.

Yep, at least he could use an OOP language, and some niceties like builders, decorators, factories, 15 layers of abstraction and indirection so everybody knows it's pro grade stuff. :)

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#145

Post by DeathArrow »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #126
orlp wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only gripe with TAOCP is its usage of MMIX.

If I where to ask “So what should he have used instead?” it would quickly derail this thread. There would be no consensus. Knuth probably foresaw this exact problem and more.

Half of people would say Javascript and the other half Python. :)

Yes, I know those languages didn't exist at the time Knuth was forging his books.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#146

Post by DeathArrow »

hintymad wrote: post #82
SoftTalker wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the days are long gone when an ordinary engineer needs to study algorithms in depth Except to pass the interview screens at high-profile tech companies?

Most leetcoders simply memorize one or two solutions instead of studying algorithms holistically. I suspect that many would spend time understanding that generating gray code can be mapped to mixed-radix number system (nor should us anyway, albeit it's really really cool). Leetcode does not require understanding of advanced data structures either. Instead, it's full of clever tricks and specific solutions with which…

I think it's harder to memorize hundreds of solutions than it is to understand a few tens of algorithms and their use cases.

Like with math, it's easier to learn to solve problems than to learn by heart hundreds of potential problems the teacher might give you on an exam.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#147

Post by DeathArrow »

NateEag wrote: post #111
mooneater wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not prediction based on anything statistical but based on one's understanding It is still statistical. You still want to predict a distribution over expected next token. However, the function needed to estimate the likely next tokens are not simple max over enumerated next tokens like in a language model. It's more like a transition model in reinforcement learning.

> It is still statistical. You still want to predict a distribution over expected next token. The fact that a process can be described statistically does not make the process itself statistical.

With the current craze of neural networks people would like to think that anything that happens in the Universe is statistical. But it's really not.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#148

Post by DeathArrow »

beebmam wrote: post #2

>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any.…

>In the US, I have never known a kind Christianity that espoused these ideas. The end, either heaven or hell (or purgatory), is everything to Christianity in the US, in my experience. Perhaps it used to be different here.

In the Orthodox Church, which I am member of, the accent is on the journey and on the transforming of the individual, not on the prize/punishment.

I live in Eastern Europe, but there are orthodox churches in US, like the Orthodox Church in America. You can go and visit at one, and see what's about. You can also chat with a priest or a monk while there.

I think that while most protestant, neo-protestant, episcopalian and even catholic churches steadily diluted the religion, the orthodox church try to stay true to the same initial truths the same ways as thousands of years ago.

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