In this wide-ranging interview conducted by Edward Feigenbaum, Donald Knuth talks about the progression of his life and career. Topics include his family background and early interest in music, physics and mathematics, his first exposure to programming, finding a mentor, and writing a doctoral thesis. He describes how "The Art of Computer Programming" became "the story of my life", and why it was put on hold for the TeX and METAFONT projects. He also talks about personal work habits, programming style, analysis of algorithms, the influence of religion in his life, and his advice to the next generation of scientists.
Date
2007-03-14; 2007-03-21
Contributor
Feigenbaum, Edward, Interviewer
Knuth, Donald E., Interviewee
Rosenshteyn, Yan, Cameraperson
Publisher
Computer History Museum
Place of Publication
Mountain View, California
Extent
73 p.
Category
Transcription
Subject
Fellow Award Honoree; Knuth, Donald; IBM 650 (Computer); Combinatorial analysis--Data processing; Combinatorics; Analysis of algorithms; The Art of Computer Programming; Stanford University; TeX; METAFONT; Religion; Literate programming
