Donald Knuth: Algorithms, TeX, Life, and The Art of Computer Programming

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Technology, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Science

4.7 • 13.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2019

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donald Knuth is one of the greatest and most impactful computer scientists and mathematicians ever. He is the recipient in 1974 of the Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize of computing. He is the author of the multi-volume work, the magnum opus, The Art of Computer Programming. He made several key contributions to the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms. He popularized asymptotic notation, that we all affectionately know as the big-O notation. He also created the TeX typesetting which most computer scientists, physicists, mathematicians, and scientists and engineers use to write technical papers and make them look beautiful.

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.

This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code “LexPodcast”.

Episode Links:
The Art of Computer Programming (book set)

Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

00:00 – Introduction
03:45 – IBM 650
07:51 – Geeks
12:29 – Alan Turing
14:26 – My life is a convex combination of english and mathematics
24:00 – Japanese arrow puzzle example
25:42 – Neural networks and machine learning
27:59 – The Art of Computer Programming
36:49 – Combinatorics
39:16 – Writing process
42:10 – Are some days harder than others?
48:36 – What’s the “Art” in the Art of Computer Programming
50:21 – Binary (boolean) decision diagram
55:06 – Big-O notation
58:02 – P=NP
1:10:05 – Artificial intelligence
1:13:26 – Ant colonies and human cognition
1:17:11 – God and the Bible
1:24:28 – Reflection on life
1:28:25 – Facing mortality
1:33:40 – TeX and beautiful typography
1:39:23 – How much of the world do we understand?
1:44:17 – Question for God

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following is a conversation with Donald Knuth, one of the greatest and most impactful computer scientists
0:06.6	the mathematicians ever.
0:09.4	He's the recipient of the 1974 Touring Award, considered the Nobel Prize of Computing.
0:16.0	He's the author of the Multi-Volume Work, the Magnum Opus, the Art of Computer Programming.
0:23.3	He meets several key contributions to the rigorous analysis of computational complexity of algorithms,
0:29.3	including the popularization of asymptotic notation that we all affectionately know as the big O notation.
0:37.5	He also created the tech type-setting system, which most computer scientists, physicist, mathematicians,
0:44.4	and scientists and engineers in general use to write technical papers and make them look beautiful.
0:51.7	I can imagine no better guest than 2019 with than Don, one of the kindest, most brilliant people
0:59.0	in our field.
1:00.4	This podcast was recorded many months ago.
1:03.1	It's one I avoided because perhaps counterintuitively the conversation meant so much to me.
1:08.9	If you can believe it, I knew even less about recording back then, so the camera angle is a bit off.
1:14.2	I hope that's okay with you.
1:16.2	The office space was a big cramp for filming, but it was a magical space, where Don does most of his work.
1:24.0	It meant a lot to me that he would welcome me into his home.
1:27.4	It was quite a journey to get there as many people know.
1:30.1	He doesn't check email, so I had to get creative.
1:33.5	The effort was worth it.
1:35.7	I've been doing this podcast on the side for just over a year.
1:38.7	Sometimes I had to sacrifice a bit of sleep, but I was always happy to do it and to be part of an amazing community of curious minds.
1:46.6	Thank you for your kind words, support, and for the interesting discussions and look forward to many more of those in 2020.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lex Fridman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lex Fridman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.