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Note from Don Knuth – bug(s) in MetaPost?

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Re: Note from Don Knuth – bug(s) in MetaPost?

#4

Post by KiwiCoder »

userbinator wrote: post #3

He doesn't even have his own email anymore and has to borrow someone else's?

Dr. Knuth doesn't do email quite like you might expect.

"My goal is to do this communication efficiently, in batch mode --- like, one day every three months."

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html

Re: Note from Don Knuth – bug(s) in MetaPost?

#7

Post by PaulRobinson »

KiwiCoder wrote: post #4
userbinator wrote: post #3

He doesn't even have his own email anymore and has to borrow someone else's?

Dr. Knuth doesn't do email quite like you might expect. "My goal is to do this communication efficiently, in batch mode --- like, one day every three months." http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html

"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."

So I think we all read that and think we want to be a bit more like Don Knuth, eh?

I've met Dr Knuth a couple of times. He's a lovely man, rather modest and just a little nervous. There are some in the industry I've met who know of their infamy and carry it less well.

Last time I spoke to Don, he was stood on a low/wide window ledge of Manchester (UK) Town Hall watching the Olympic flame make it's arrival there in the Spring of 2012.

We were both attending a conference held there in honour of Alan Turing's 100th birthday. Also in the room were Fred Brooks, Vint Cerf, Tony Hoare, Samuel Klein and various other amazing names from computer science and a few other names of note who aren't quite so "classic" yet (David Ferrucci of IBM Watson project, Gary Kasparov, etc.).

This is the first and last time I will ever name drop, and I swear I have no idea how I ended up in that room with that company. But it was pretty cool.

And Don did not fall out of the window, and I was relieved I did not witness same. That would have scarred me for life.

Anyway, he's got the right idea. We should all be more like Don.

Re: Note from Don Knuth – bug(s) in MetaPost?

#8

Post by dded »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #7
KiwiCoder wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dr. Knuth doesn't do email quite like you might expect. "My goal is to do this communication efficiently, in batch mode --- like, one day every three months." http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html

"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." So I think we all read that and think we want to be a bit more like Don Knuth, eh? I've met Dr Knuth a couple of times. He's a lovely man, rather modest and just a little nervous. There are some in the industry I've met who know of their infamy and carry it less well. Last ti…

Surely you mean "fame" and not "infamy".

Re: Note from Don Knuth – bug(s) in MetaPost?

#9

Post by cal2 »

dded wrote: post #8
PaulRobinson wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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." So I think we all read that and think we want to be a bit more like Don Knuth, eh? I've met Dr Knuth a couple of times. He's a lovely man, rather modest and just a little nervous. There are some in the industry I've met who know of their infamy and carry it less well. Last ti…

Surely you mean "fame" and not "infamy".

Perhaps both words could be equally applicable in this respect. :-)
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