tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post8272830085616531897..comments2023-12-21T06:35:36.624-05:00Comments on Recursivity: Donald Knuth and MeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-20232340648355567672017-05-25T10:22:48.821-04:002017-05-25T10:22:48.821-04:00You are right about Knuth being generous. I sugge...You are right about Knuth being generous. I suggested an addition to the chapter on Song of Solomon in his book <i>3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated.</i> Not only did he work my paragraph-length addition into the text (and thanks to TeX, it still fit on the one page he had allotted for that chapter) &mdash which would have been affirmation enough &mdash he sent me an autographed copy of the book as a thank-you.<br /><br />By the way, the period at the end of the title of the book above is also italicized, because of Knuth's dictum that trailing punctuation should always be included in the mark-up for the sake of beauty. Only once or twice have I encountered a situation where the result would be ambiguous in the wrong way. You are right about Knuth being detail-oriented to a fault.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15227338101314815542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-49619723635367955682008-01-10T16:05:00.000-05:002008-01-10T16:05:00.000-05:00I took two algorithm courses with Prof Shallitt, a...I took two algorithm courses with Prof Shallitt, and I never knew what the O stood for. Now - thanks to Donald Knuth's index - I do.<BR/><BR/>I think "Outlaw" is the "best...middle name...ever"Jimmyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13826443842247282874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-76516288517608311342008-01-10T12:22:00.000-05:002008-01-10T12:22:00.000-05:00Regarding Donald Knuth exploring territories befor...Regarding Donald Knuth exploring territories beforehand:<BR/><BR/>Indeed, in one of my Grad classes, I set out to implement trie's and DAWG's (special trees for storing word lists). Donald Knuth had already come out with an extremely space efficient method which deftly avoided storing the inevitable overabundance of null pointers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-87992577054073416602008-01-10T09:52:00.000-05:002008-01-10T09:52:00.000-05:00I studied physics in college and used LaTeX for my...I studied physics in college and used LaTeX for my papers. My only contact with Knuth is through <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/TeXbook-Computers-Typesetting-Donald-Knuth/dp/0201134489" REL="nofollow">The TeXbook</A>, an excellent and highly entertaining read.<BR/><BR/>He seems like a really great guy, and I can totally see even from my limited reading of his work that he loves what he does and is GOOD at it.<BR/><BR/>I'm thinking I should try to find a copy of <I>The Art of Computer Programming</I> for my bookshelf.<BR/><BR/>Of course, no tribute to Knuth is complete without his mentions on <A HREF="http://xkcd.com" REL="nofollow">xkcd</A> <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/342/" REL="nofollow">here</A> and <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/163/" REL="nofollow">here</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com