Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About, by Donald E. Knuth

Although many of us may be unfamiliar with the name Donald Knuth, not so computer scientists and programmers. According to the Online hacker Jargon file (Jargon File 4.2.3), "Knuth" is "mythically, the reference that answers all questions about data structures or algorithms. A safe answer when you do not know: 'I think you can find that in Knuth.'" "Knuth" in this context refers to a monumental three-volume work titled The Art of Computer Programming.

When Knuth became annoyed with the quality of typesetting for that series, he invented typesetting language TEX, which is still used around the world by scientists to set their articles and books. Knuth thought he could complete this typesetting system during a sabbatical; instead, it took eight years. But, as the Jargon file rightly observes, "Many grand hackish projects have started as a bit of toolsmithing on the way to something else; Knuth's diversion was simply on a grander scale than most."

At the other extreme, Knuth wrote a novelette in a week that illustrates the mathematician John Horton Conway's new way of constructing numbers. Knuth called Conway's invention "surreal numbers," and the name has stuck. A champion of "elegant" and "literate" programming, Knuth marries the sensibilities of an artist with the precision of a mathematician; he is one of computer science's most influential scholars. No wonder that when this Lutheran Christian agreed to give six lectures in the MIT series "God and Computers," the MIT student newspaper published an article titled "Computer God talks about God." These lectures have now been lightly edited into a book that includes a brief introduction by Anne Foerst, MIT research scientist and convener of the lecture series, and the record of a brief panel discussion involving Knuth and several computer science luminaries (Guy L. Steele Jr. and Mitch Kapor, among others).