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For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

quantamagazine.org

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Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#11

Post by alfonsodev »

barrkel wrote: post #9
larntz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting and very true. It reminds me of people who are excellent at something but their life gets held back by alcohol/drugs or bad relationships or some other _low minimum_. That first sentence is really profound in my opinion.

You've never experienced good art by a tortured artist, then?

That would be success in art but failing in life, by the quote definition, I infer he’s equating success in life with your minimum quality of life indicators being as high as posible, if I got it right.

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#12

Post by markarranz »

> I write an average of five new programs every week. Poets have to write poems. I have to write computer programs.

It seems more obvious now that I read it. A lot of programmers out there, including myself, are looking for ways to improve their skills and I never thought to myself to write more programs. And not just programs for the sake of programs, but programs that force you to explain to the computer that you understand certain concepts. This man is and will continue to be a huge inspiration.

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#13

Post by spinningslate »

barrkel wrote: post #10
plg wrote: post #4

I like this: "A person’s success in life is determined by having a high minimum, not a high maximum. If you can do something really well but there are other things at which you’re failing, the latter will hold you back. But if almost everything you do is up there, then you’ve got a good life."

How about defining your own idea of success in life? Taking your utility function, your definition of success, from someone else, is only one step removed from being jealous of someone on Instagram. Think, and judge, for yourself.

> Think, and judge, for yourself.

But surely also be inspired by others? OP simply said "I like this". I agree we shouldn't blindly follow or resent others, but that seems a stretch from "like".

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#15

Post by alxlaz »

sasaf5 wrote: post #14
plg wrote: post #5

Man for an older person he is using a really small font on his screen! Also: looks like a GNU/Linux variant not windows or macOS.

True. The editor on the left side does look like emacs.

That's the FVWM window manager. His FVWM config (or at least some version of it) is available if you're curious: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/programs/.fvwm2rc .

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#16

Post by circlefavshape »

plg wrote: post #4

I like this: "A person’s success in life is determined by having a high minimum, not a high maximum. If you can do something really well but there are other things at which you’re failing, the latter will hold you back. But if almost everything you do is up there, then you’ve got a good life."

I've heard it said (maybe by Frank Zappa? can't remember for sure) that the difference between a professional musician and an amateur is not how well they play at their best, but how well they play at their worst.

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#17

Post by Kenji »

markarranz wrote: post #12

> I write an average of five new programs every week. Poets have to write poems. I have to write computer programs. It seems more obvious now that I read it. A lot of programmers out there, including myself, are looking for ways to improve their skills and I never thought to myself to write more programs. And not just programs for the sake of programs, but programs that force you to explain to the computer that you u…

Isn't it obvious that practicing your art is a prerequisite for improving your skills?

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#18

Post by sasaf5 »

ScannerSparkly wrote: post #2

Has anyone read his books? Seems like an interesting way to get into programming. I enjoy reading, but I never thought that a book about programming would present it's ideas and technical details through stories.

I often consult the "Seminumerical Algorithms" volume, as someone who has to implement lots of digital arithmetic. It is wonderful to help me base my choice of algorithms on math. I wouldn't recommend it as a way to get into programming though, as it is more about algorithms than about how to code them in a practical language. Perhaps his books on literate programming would be better for this purpose.

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#19

Post by weinzierl »

sasaf5 wrote: post #14
plg wrote: post #5

Man for an older person he is using a really small font on his screen! Also: looks like a GNU/Linux variant not windows or macOS.

True. The editor on the left side does look like emacs.

Attended one of his lectures many years ago and he was indeed using Emacs back then. Don't remember which OS but I think the whole session he was just in Emacs most of the time. Also one time he stopped and was puzzled what was going on, quickly realizing that he'd forgotten to save the file. Still to this day when I forget to save I remember this and think : "If it can happen to Knuth it's ok if it happens to you"

Re: For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

#20

Post by pbourke »

ScannerSparkly wrote: post #2

Has anyone read his books? Seems like an interesting way to get into programming. I enjoy reading, but I never thought that a book about programming would present it's ideas and technical details through stories.

> Seems like an interesting way to get into programming.

This would be an iconoclastic route into programming, to say the least.

If you are looking for a more approachable or practical book that gets you programming and introduces some theory I recommend “Classic Computer Science Problems in Python” by David Kopec.

Reading TAOCP to get into programming is sort of like reading a physics textbook in order to build a doghouse in your backyard.

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