Donald Knuth: Programming, Algorithms, Hard Problems & the Game of Life | Lex Fridman Podcast

[@lexfridman]

Here are the timestamps. Please check out our sponsors to support this podcast. 0:00 - Introduction & sponsor mentions: - Coinbase: coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin - InsideTracker: insidetracker.com/lex and use code Lex25 to get 25% off - NetSuite: netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour - ExpressVPN: expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free - BetterHelp: betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off 0:48 - First programs 24:11 - Literate programming 27:20 - Beauty in programming 33:15 - OpenAI 42:26 - Optimization 48:31 - Consciousness 57:14 - Conway's game of life 1:10:01 - Stable marriage 1:13:21 - Richard Feynman 1:24:15 - Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm 1:33:47 - Hardest problem 1:51:26 - Open source 1:56:39 - Favorite symbols 2:06:12 - Productivity 2:13:53 - Meaning of life

[@MM-gd1be]

Thank you for the quality information I look forward to you as much as jre

[@janglestick]

very cool ... in most of those timestamp categories, there is in fact a quotable answer. great interview. Up with the algorithmythists ! how funny is it that Knuth uses globals? Dynamic programming is having a bit of a renaissance.

[@aaron8344]

Thank you for keeping an old man valuable. You challenged him like a child because you recognised that it is all we are to him. Based on this interview, I'd like to see you challenge more people at the end of their line. Good for your podcast - sure. Good for these people who changed the world - you made their day - remind them of their value and perhaps reinspire them. Really good job.

[@OpticalAntenna]

Unfortunately comments that have given me the biggest laugh are ones where the coder admits they have no idea what they are doing. One person right in the middle of an attempt to implement an extended kalman filter began naming variables i_have_no_idea and fudge_factor. We instated peer review process immediately.

[@corineskipper1919]

@@MM-gd1be how Rogan is not a truther and NOT someone to b trusted for ANY information

[@Simon-jw1ww]

The first name you learn in computer science is "Alan Turing". The second one is Donald Knuth. It's sad that we can't hear/see Turing in your Podcast. But you are realy lucky to have the opportunity to speak to the one and only Donald Knuth! A man whose ideas are in every single modern computer on this planet! The definition of a legend!

[@lugas2267]

i mean we are lucky…

[@RobertTempleton64]

If you really learn computer science, the names "Charles Babbage" and "Ada Lovelace" might crop up. The real pioneers of computer science in a time when its actuality was virtually improbable.

[@NinjaofApathy]

Fun question: what historical person active within the last 150 years would you have visit the Lex podcast? (You can only pick one). Mine might be Tesla.

[@IntuitiveLeap]

@@NinjaofApathy Maybe the inventor of the Sumerian abacus? Whoever that is.

[@axiom1650]

@@NinjaofApathy Einstein

[@remixisthis]

Your doing an immeasurable service getting these rare long form interviews from programming legends. I really appreciate it and incredibly grateful we can all hear more from these hard to reach figures who usually don’t get to have in-depth conversations nowadays

[@sunte91]

I agree 100%

[@TonyDiCroce]

@Lex Fridman ▫️◽ you should find a podcast with a dumber audience than this one. Here, you run the risk that some hacker might choose to make an example out of you.

[@krabkrabkrab]

"You're"

[@dreadsdomain]

Gimme your fav programming guest on the lex podcast… pls :)

[@fosres]

Hello Lex. I honestly appreciate the time and effort you put into convincing Donald Knuth to speak on your show. Keep up the awesome conversations!

[@utubez0red]

We are so lucky to be in the privileged position to listen to scientists of this magnitude talking in such a humbling way about subjects like consciousness. Thank you Lex for the value you add in this world.

[@zomroxy2458]

I really love how Donald Knuth just genuinaly loves coding, it's vividness gives me motivation.

[@dalimrabet3087]

Donald: "I am doing this at night when nobody else was around" Lex: "of course" This resonates on so many levels !

[@alexandreconlon8990]

The confidence with which Lex said that really got to me.

[@DaveWhoa]

I find 3am to be a beautiful hour to do some coding

[@flexairz]

And girls were introduced much later in Dons life...

[@GeronimOCZECH]

@@DaveWhoa Yes, becouse it's only you and your keyboard. In the daytime there is too many distractions imo.

[@jamesevans2507]

@@DaveWhoa I would probably do it too if I was privileged enough to not have to work 9-5

[@ozymet]

"I wrote program because it was fun to write programs" - For how many of us have been a real and pure joy to write something that just worked? Long before we became corporate programmers.

[@adels1388]

I love he is actually calculating 3^5 in the interview.

[@JameyKirby]

I got Dr. Knuth's volume III when I was a teenager. I learned SO MUCH from Dr. Knuth books. I remember implementing soundexing in BASIC circa 1985 based on his book. Thank you for doing this second interview.

[@robinkaraa3369]

We need John Camack, please Lex make it happen :)

[@lashropa]

Oh great idea! It was such a treat to see him on Rogan, Lex's style would really scratch that technical itch, though. Lex, do it!

[@remixisthis]

Let’s go!!

[@apoage]

Wow thaw would be so awesome ..

[@TonyDiCroce]

And ask him about functional programming.... and Abrash.

[@cbennoes]

@@lashropa absolutely, that would be amazing

[@3227998]

A living legend - Donald Knuth. They should have computer scientists appreciation course at schools and include Mr. Knuth to that course.

[@karu6111]

surprised that there's not more views, this man is a legend, well, at least based on how many recommends his books on the concepts regarding computer science.

[@keepme5225]

Access to Don Knuth’s time is by far one of Lex’s most valuable leverages

[@ken888wong]

I spent too many hours fixing latex bugs on my papers. Thank you Lex for doing these interviews of these pillars of computer science. It is interesting to hear the human side rather than the theorems and/or products of their work. Please do an interview the Dr Stephen Cook; he's getting up there in age.

[@EricHrahsel]

I have a stutter. And this feels so motivating and Donald is so brave to attend this talk

[@justinjoseph5582]

First Edit: I normally never comment on KZbin videos, but just a guy from africa with the entire collection of the art of computer programming, already love this podcast and I am in a few minutes

[@jonathanpopham5483]

someone asked Jimi Hendrix what it felt like to be the greatest programmer alive, he said "I don't know, ask Donald Knuth"

[@nteasushz]

Acid is the root of all evil

[@ronj9448]

Amazed to see a current interview with Knuth. I was introduced to his work in college where I needed better quality algorthms to get a better grade (early 1980s). I went to the library and every book seemed to reference Knuth so I decided to look for the source. Wow. Changed my life in a few ways both education and personal.

[@arawproductions3156]

so glad you keep getting CS goats on the pod

[@peterfireflylund]

Knuth, the homeboy of all of us! I never really liked attribute grammar but thank you, thank you for teaching me about shift-xor random number generators!

[@anitsh]

Thank you @Lex Fridman for this! It's an honor to hear Donald. Like many of us in this profession, I am thankful to his contributions.

[@damislav]

the fact that we are alive in the same time as him, is amazing

[@FacesintheStone]

Wonderful guest! It’s so great to learn about how it was in the old IBM days compared to controls and automation today. Keep bringing these epic guests Lex my man!

[@ir3mix3d]

So cool to hear a pioneer show us his perception of the timeline!

[@fredb2022]

Wow! Thank you to our host and guest. This is not my field and I was afraid I had aimed too high. Only midway through did I “connect.” Glad I stuck it out.

[@palefire4454]

GOD BLESS YOU, LEX, THANK YOU FOR BRINGING US KNUTH, WHAT A LEGEND!!!

[@stanuel]

Wow, fantastic conversation! I love how he's able to recall the exact first programs he wrote and how it played out. What a legend

[@AminKhalek]

“When I met John Conway, you were minus twenty years old.” 😂

[@video-request-response]

That was amazing!!!!

[@ninadesianti9587]

Thank you for the great interview, Lex! Thank you for introducing me to another great guest! Your podcast made me want to learn more about the work of Stephen Wolfram, Joscha Bach, and now Donald Knuth! Listening to them and other great thinkers scares me, it’s FOMO, fear of missing out. But it’s all good, at least it’s not boring, more stuff to learn!

[@MrEloyina]

I am from a city in PERÚ, we dont have this type of amazing talks. Thank you for sharing.

[@nteasushz]

But you have peyote!?

[@tdbulvan2177]

“I had more bugs in it than number of lines of code” - so freaking awesome of a statement

[@consumer1843]

Dr. Knuth is a great teacher. Dr. Fridman is an accomplished conversationist.

[@programmer1379]

So awesome !! Enjoyed the chapter about the hardest problem; watching professor Knuth describe the research process and how he managed to finally crack the problem is amazing. Many lessons to learn from this podcast. Thank you for sharing, Lex !

[@gritmcnasty5592]

I’ve tried to listen to these podcasts to fall asleep, bad idea! I always find myself listening to the very end, I get so into to the topics even when I don’t know a thing about the topic at hand, the only podcast that does this to me! 😂

[@fiifianyimadu6118]

The most respectful, appropriating part of the web is the learned side of it. I like this side with no sour grapes and thumb-downs, etc. I hope I am welcome

[@rvdheij]

Thank you for doing these interviews. It's a true pleasure to hear Don Knuth and others you interviewed.

[@2894031]

This is totally f-ing amazing, chatting with such a legend! This is the best channel on YT

[@STARBOY-ko4kb]

I lived everytime when i watch these podcasts.

[@TheGunmanChannel]

Very interesting stuff.

[@nabeelhasan6593]

"The word open source didn't exist at the time" :O This simple statement shows how much these people are important

[@sm_xiii]

It is such a fanboy moment for me. I want to achieve that level of enthusiasm and confidence in my life, where the feeling that existing word processors are not capable enough will lead me to even think of creating something of my own.

[@rusi6219]

Stop optimizing your code and you're halfway there haha

[@Sliverth]

Excellent interview and a guest who’s a giant in the field. I’m forwarding this to my grandson, a high school senior and headed to STEM.

[@marcgarridocasas9672]

6:38 I love the fact that Lex had to stop talking due to a smile, he really likes working hard instead of getting consistent sleep.

[@solderbuff]

35:50 - First, programmers like Knuth were really mathematicians who solved a problem mathematically and then wrote a program. Then agile development came along and programmers started to ship something that seems to work until another bug report shows up. And now increasingly programmers don’t even know how the result is achieved (with deep learning and stuff).

[@jasonlind3065]

Agreed

[@AlvinYakitori060]

They do import, fit, predict and call themselves “Data Scientists” and don’t even know performance metrics, terrible…

[@nikhilk7493]

he is one of the kind

[@davidwalz3317]

“Life is a binary search..” me stops and think deeply about this for days. Haha

[@Channel-gv2gw]

please give me the timestamp

[@jacobbisher6291]

This would make a great T shirt. 2:10:44

[@supermario1982171]

This really stood out to me also

[@georgejaniec]

I literally come back to the algorithm itself ;)

[@mubiratan]

The master, Professor Donald Knuth!

[@measure5141]

Wouldn't know what to do without you Lex.

[@MrAcenit]

37:45 Phenomenal insight - literally the need for AI Ethics/Safetyl - When the code you write is impacting people's lives in a significant way, humans better understand what the computer's doing!

[@SincerelyBradley]

Someone I absolutely look up to. A mentor of mine when I got my first software job gave me his book "Stuff Computer Scientists Rarely Talk About" and I've been inspired by him ever since.

[@raphaeld9270]

Thanks, "Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About" looks like a great read.

[@raphaeld9270]

The wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_a_Computer_Scientist_Rarely_Talks_About

[@FilipiVianna]

Really really wonderful conversation... It took me hours to watch because I was googling for references, like On Intelligence and Surreal Numbers... Donald Knuth has such a charismatic personality that I had the pleasure to chat during some International Free Software Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil... Congratulations, Lex Fridman, well-conducted interview.

[@bruhbigchungus]

Don is such a legend, glad he's still with us

[@vgoj]

Donald was visibly emotionally touched by the memories of Conway`s. Beautiful minds.

[@CristianConsonni]

Don Knuth: "The topic of stable marriages is a technical term" Lex: "Yes, it's a joke, Don" I am dying 😂😂😂

[@hyperreal]

The visuals for this really help, thank you.

[@gr8xpect8ion]

Amazing interview, Lex does such a great job with these legendary figures. These interviews are part of the historical record for this inflection point in human history. Historians of the future thank you Lex!

[@venkateswarans1012]

20:03 Donald : I was pretty much a machine. Lex : yeah I got you

[@metalstraw6700]

We need a Don podcast every year

[@mohan1519]

"I'm on the side of understanding" - could not have said better. I only hope people listen to experts in the field.

[@mohan1519]

He's also such a wonderful human... like the way he spoke...

[@Yolo_Swagins]

Lex love your podcast. Thank you.

[@seer5994]

Thank you for the interview !! Please do more interviews with Mr. Knuth!

[@reihanehiranmanesh9643]

You have done the interview I have long waited for OMG. Lemme watch this ;)

[@PankajDoharey]

I am so happy to see him in good health.

[@Nataspin900]

Can you interview linus torvalds?

[@matthewlawrence2395]

The Lexbot is producing more content then the human Lex could.

[@calebbarnes5452]

Lex is my role model

[@makjude]

'I was dating her roommate.' I didn't know DK was such a player.

[@coincrazy3563]

Lex is a budding hero of new media

[@SeekHunt1334]

Thank you. Make the next one with Dr. Knuth longer?

[@OpticalAntenna]

He almost mentions Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. He must think philosophically for that to be on the tip of his tongue. Wonder when he last read it, one of my favorite books as it brings back memories of traveling on the back of my father's motorcycle and camping out.

[@warfreddy6968]

Hearing Donald talk about using old airgapped machines and soon upgrading to ssd is the most wholesome example i can imagine. Lol.

[@skwest]

Holy Cow!!! Donald E. Knuth: The Man, The Legend! I can't wait to listen... I'll scatter his books around me (thank you, Addison Wesley) like fragrant rose petals, as I do. You rock, Lex.

[@6pat]

Enjoyed very much this episode, best health to Mr Knuth.

[@AstonnMartin2003]

Lex, I love you man and enjoy your podcast emensly. With one caviot of an observation from watching the podcast. No disrespect intended, however, the manner of your asking questions can and does confuses your quest. Not to mention your audience. When asking a question to a guests, and they start to answer, you'll interrupt with another question/questios. There were times that I felt sorry for the taxing rapid fire questions and the poor old man struggling.

[@thefrankiepalmeri]

Anyone else noticing the inconsistency in the quality of some of these videos? Especially the last two uploads seem quiet.

[@focusEngineered]

Lex YOU ARE AWESOME. I watched the first Episode +10 times, Thanks for hosting Don one more time. He is one of a kind scientist

[@94franz]

What a legendary scientist so many PhDs were blessed with his name! talking about LaTeX, have you ever interviewed Leslie Lamport who is yet another CS genious

[@dadecountyboos]

round two thank you, as always for this work you do. Reading MMIX for the Millennium & supplementary text last few months. Knuth is truly incredible

[@ushiferreyra]

I absolutely agree about finding a thing boring many times means you haven't been exposed to them with clarity and mostly haven't realized that there is in fact beauty in it. It's refreshing to know more people share this sentiment.

[@nephiindustries]

The beauty in programming part is appreciated 👍🏼

[@ShubhamBhushanCC]

Donald Knuth is the God of Computer Science

[@courseprovider9871]

i still havent finished but still this is brilliant episode!

[@erpthompsonqueen9130]

Thank you. Honoring Parent. Brilliant.

[@go5582]

hi . i really enjoyed this video. host ,in 1:30:24 ,your guest has answered and reached his mathmatical threshold. very sincere. thanks for your time.

[@the_humble_lazy]

can anyone please explain me tic-tac-toe problem Sir Knuth tried explaining in the initial part of the podcast

[@kenjiedeguzman3990]

You should invite Naval or Chamath. Thanks Lex. Stay Safe and Healthy Man.

[@luserdroog]

Please, please, keep working on TAOCP. Hoping to see the later volumes on parsing and compilers.

[@oguntigli882]

Great interview Lex, thanks so much.

[@anatolyzaretsky2809]

10:39 DK: Anyway, that would [be] my first program. LF: Well, what... what was your goal with that program? DK: My goal? LF: Was there something you were hoping to... to find a large prime maybe? Or... DK: No! LF:The opposite? DK: No, my goal was to see the lights flashing and understand how this magical machine would be able to do something that took so long by hand.

[@mrknowmyself]

I enjoyed this dialog so much. Was very thoughtful thank u!

[@TuffKaya]

Hi Lex, I think you could improve the sound mix quality of your podcast by removing the lower-end frequencies. The sub-bass and bass frequencies coming from the guest's mic make stuff on my desk vibrate, and I am using the just the built-in speakers on an iMac.

[@mnwqm11297]

Technical: Subtitles are off for some reason? They would be helpful for many.

[@ChuckSilva]

I so love these podcasts…❤️

[@swinehorde9118]

Hell yeah, Donald. A wellspring of knowledge!

[@B1gLupu]

What Lex said 56:45 onwards is actually sorta scientifically true. Human senses don't process all information at the same speed, so if we see someone clapping their hands few meters away, we actually hear them before we see their hands hit each other. Because this would be terribly confusing for a living creature, we have to delay some responces for an unified data output. Our reaction delay is mostly caused by the brain making sense of the real life inputs being processed at different speeds. The brain is also a big soup of chemicals that makes it feel like one unified story instead of separate different inputs processed at different speeds.

[@robocop30301]

This is awesome! Thanks Lex

[@rebeccaavendano9442]

Insightful conversation about consciousness!

[@graemedicks3139]

A gentleman and so intelligent !

[@moneymarosx]

How many black suits does Lex have? Awesome content! Love your stuff Lex. Keep it up, thank you.

[@connoly6329]

Respect to the legend!