The reason is not to glorify "bit chasing"; a more fundamen… - Donald Knuth

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The reason is not to glorify "bit chasing"; a more fundamental issue is at stake here: Numerical subroutines should deliver results that satisfy simple, useful mathematical laws whenever possible. [...] Without any underlying symmetry properties, the job of proving interesting results becomes extremely unpleasant. The enjoyment of one's tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.

Donald Knuth

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About Donald Knuth

Donald Ervin Knuth (born 10 January 1938) is an American computer scientist, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and winner of the 1974 Turing Award.

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Native Name: Donald Ervin Knuth

Alternative Names: Donald E. Knuth • Don Knuth • D.E.K. • DEK • Knuth

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Edsger W. Dijkstra Richard Hamming Joe Armstrong Erik Naggum Alan Perlis

Additional quotes by Donald Knuth

If you find that you're spending almost all your time on theory, start turning some attention to practical things; it will improve your theories. If you find that you're spending almost all your time on practice, start turning some attention to theoretical things; it will improve your practice.

People who are more than casually interested in computers should have at least some idea of what the underlying hardware is like. Otherwise the programs they write will be pretty weird.

In fact, my main conclusion after spending ten years of my life working on the T<sub>E</sub>X project is that software is hard. It’s harder than anything else I’ve ever had to do.

The reason is not to glorify "bit chasing"; a more fundamental issue is at stake here: Numerical subroutines should deliver results that satisfy simp… - Donald Knuth

About Donald Knuth

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Additional quotes by Donald Knuth