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Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1

Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1 on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2019–2022.

A roughly three-hour Computer History Museum oral history interview of Donald Knuth by Edward Feigenbaum, recorded in 2007. Knuth covers his family, music, early programming, his thesis, The Art of Computer Programming, and the detour into TeX and METAFONT.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a superb, personal long-form look at Knuth's life and work habits.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
1
discussed on HN
2019–2022
“It's a _really_ long interview, +7 hours. But it's also superb.”
— kontorStol, May 2019, in “I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

kontorStolMay 2019Strongly recommends

I recommend this video to you: Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1 and 2: ▶ this video on The Computer History Museum Youtube channel. It's a _really_ long interview, +7 hours. But it's also superb. He is interviewed by his friend and colleague Edward Feigenbaum who does a stellar job. He brings out the human Donald Knuth in a remarkable way. It gave me great respect and admiration for Donald Knuth life and achievements. For me I dare to say it was transformative in regards to human pursuit of knowledge, passion and what it means to be a intellectual human being. td;dr: Watched a Donald Knuth interview and got a nerd crush

in “I Got a Knuth Check for 0x$3.00” · View on HN

belterMay 2022Recommends

Donald Knuth interviews are so interesting, but would like to particularly highlight this little piece of advice, out of this great playlist: "Donald Knuth - My advice to young people": [link] Complete Playlist - "Donald Knuth (Computer scientist)" [97 videos]: [link] Also the "Oral History of Donald Knuth" from the Computer History Museum is great. "Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1": ▶ this video "Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 2": [link] Plus.. "Donald Knuth Interview 2006": [link] "An Interview with Donald Knuth": [link] "Interview with Donald Knuth": [link] This somewhat "colourful" page also tracks a few: [link] PS: The story that he told Steve Jobs he was "Full of shit" is not true. "Donald Knuth never told Steve Jobs that he was full of shit" [link]

in “Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)” · View on HN

svatApr 2019Cites it

This is in fact one of several oral histories that Knuth has done over the last few years: * 2001, 2 hours audio ( [link] ), 27-page transcript ( [link] ) (partial I guess?) * 2006, Web of Stories, 7.5 hours video in 97 short parts [link] , transcript ( [link] ) * 2007, interview by Ed Feigenbaum, 3 hours ( ▶ this video ) + 4 hours ( [link] ), 73-page transcript ( [link] ) * 2018, this one ( [link] ), about 4.5 hours, 177-page transcript (but 50 pages of those are Knuth's CV!) * 2018, by the Computer History Museum, 1.5 hours, specifically about the earliest programs he wrote as an undergrad when he first encountered computers ( [link] ): the programs themselves are here: [link] (in machine language / assembly) I've watched the Web of Stories one fully (and the others not yet fully)… they are a delight. You can see the way his mind works, and he's someone whose career has spanned basically the entirety of computer science as a separate academic discipline.

in “Donald E. Knuth: An Oral History (2018) [video]” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Tech pioneers & interviewsHistory of computingknuthoral historytexart of computer programmingcomputing history